MANILA, Philippines—Muslim guerillas halted a United Nations convoy and seized food supplies intended for tens of thousands of people displaced by fighting in Mindanao, police said Friday.

About 20 rebels from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on Tuesday stopped a convoy of trucks sent by the UN World Food Program near a marshland area and took about 60 bags of rice, according to Chief Supt. Joel Goltiao, police director at the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

“The rebels ordered the aid workers, at gunpoint, to transfer the shipment of food,” Goltiao was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying. The report did not indicate the specific place where the incident occurred.

Goltiao said the convoy had initially thought the armed men in uniform were soldiers manning a checkpoint.

A spokesperson from the World Food Program said the agency was informed by the police about the incident, but that it was still checking with its staff what really happened to the convoy.

UN commitment

In a statement, the UN agency said it remained committed to provide humanitarian assistance to conflict-affected communities in the south after another convoy was turned back by soldiers in another area last week for its failure to coordinate the food shipment.

Describing it as an isolated case, the agency said it “has not experienced any difficulties or challenges in delivering food to the distribution centers.”

Since Aug. 11, the UN agency has distributed more than 1,200 metric tons of rice to more than half a million people affected by weeks of fighting in six southern provinces.