MANILA, Philippines – (UPDATE 2) A Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) commander who led the occupation of 15 North Cotabato villages the other week, Ameril Umbra Kato, was reportedly wounded in an ambush in Shariff Kabunsuan province on Tuesday, officials said.

Two of Kato's men were killed during the gunfight, said Major Armand Rico, spokesman of the Armed Forces Eastern Mindanao Command (Eastmincom), adding the Moro rebels were waylaid by unidentified armed men in Kabuntalan town at around 1:20 p.m.

"As per our report, grabe daw ang tama niya [Kato was seriously wounded]. His men carried him as they escaped," Rico told INQUIRER.net in a phone interview.

One of the slain rebels was identified as a certain Monib, he said.

“This has been verified by reports from the field by troops in pursuit of Kato’s group. The information came from residents who know Monib,” Rico told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Lieutenant Colonel Julieto Ando, Sixth Infantry Division spokesperson, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer by phone that soldiers were patrolling at around 2 p.m. Tuesday near the river in Bagumbayan village in northern Kabuntalan when Kato’s group opened fire at them.

An hour-long firefight ensued but Ando said no casualties were reported on the government side.

"The rebels were on board two motorized boats. They fired on our soldiers using 50 machineguns," Ando said.

Rico said government troops in the area assumed blocking positions to prevent Kato and his men from escaping.

Kato’s group has been on the run after the rebels were ejected from the North Cotabato villages by the military, he said. “They have split up into smaller groups to move faster. If they stick together in a big group, they can be spotted easily.”

But Lieutenant General Cardozo Luna, the AFP Vice Chief of Staff and concurrent Task Force Mindanao commander, could not confirm that Kato was hurt in the gunfight.

"We cannot say that he was wounded, but according to intelligence reports, he was there," he said, adding, "These are sketchy reports."

Luna said troops from the 6th Infantry Battalion, who were on patrol on the Rio Grande de Mindanao riverbanks in Kabuntalan town, reported that they encountered armed men on board two pump boats.

"The men on one of the boats opened fire, sparking a firefight. One of the boats capsized," Luna said, adding the occupants of the watercrafts escaped or were carried by strong currents.

He could not confirm whether or not Kato and his men were on board the two pump boats, but he acknowledged that Kabuntalan was the "area" of the 105th Base Command.

A spokesman for the MILF did not return calls seeking comment.

Kato and his men seized 15 villages in Lanao del Norte earlier this month, burning houses and displacing thousands of civilians. Military operations dislodged them from the areas. The fighting left two soldiers and an estimated 31 MILF rebels killed.

The government has filed 50 different cases that included 22 cases of arson, robbery, murder, and kidnapping against Kato and his men for the atrocities they committed in Mindanao.

Malacañang on Tuesday evening announced a bounty of P5 million for the capture of Kato and another MILF commander, Abdulrahman Macapaar alias Commander Bravo. With reports from Alcuin Papa and Jeoffrey Maitem, Philippine Daily Inquirer