ALEOSAN, August 13, 2008 (AFP) - Thousands of villagers who fled their homes in the war-ravaged southern Philippines are not returning for fear of landmines and new attacks by Muslims rebels, officials said Wednesday.

Although Muslim guerrillas have retreated from villages they occupied last week in the province of North Cotabato, government soldiers are still meeting small pockets of resistance.

Scores of houses in mainly poor rural villages have been either burned to the ground or looted and crops destroyed by the retreating rebels.

The military said that as the rebels retreated Tuesday and Wednesday they planted booby traps and landmines in deserted villages and roads.

Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels occupied the villages last week after the Supreme Court halted the signing of an agreement meant to pave the way for a political settlement to end its 30-year struggle for an independent Islamic state in the southern Philippines.

About 160,000 people have been made homeless by the fighting, according to the National Disaster Coordinating Council, and the United Nations World Food Programme is transporting food into relief centres in the province.

MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said the movement's leadership had not sanctioned the occupation of farms, and accused pro-government militiamen of starting the conflict.

'It was the militia that started the fighting... not the MILF,' he said on local radio.

Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro and other senior officials visited many of the evacuation centres Wednesday to assess the needs of the refugees.

'Addressing the concerns of the displaced remains our top priority,' said national police spokesman Superintendent Nicanor Bartolome.

MILF rebels began retreating back into the hills Tuesday after a prolonged military and police offensive involving helicopter gunships and artillery.

Bartolome said the rebels had planted booby traps in farms and villages as they retreated.

He said that government forces were alert against MILF attempts to occupy the highways in North Cotabato or to enter other areas left unprotected.

Bartolome said some of the evacuees had started to check their properties, but were not staying for fear the rebels would return.

Teodoro, who met with some evacuated villagers, said Christian and Muslim farmers were still living in fear of the MILF who had burned houses, stolen farm animals and killed civilians during their incursion.

'We need food, we need clean water, we can't bear the hardship of being evicted from our homes. We need to live normal lives again,' said 49-year-old farmer Edilberto Semera, a refugee from the town of Aleosan.

Abdulwahid Adil, a 39-year-old Muslim farmer, said he could hardly sleep in the makeshift tent his family erected on a roadside.

'Me, my wife and four young children stay there waiting for food assistance but we cannot be in this situation for long,' he said.

'It was so cold at night and so hot at daytime, this is how miserable our life has become because of the fighting.'

Despite the hostilities, chief government peace negotiator Hermogenes Esperon said it government was still pursuing its peace negotiations with the MILF.

'There is no way we can give up on the peace process,' he told an academic forum in Manila, adding 'we must pursue peace' despite the violence in North Cotabato.

The 12,000-strong MILF has been fighting for a separate Islamic state in the south of this largely-Christian nation since 1978.

In 2003 it signed a ceasefire with the government to open the way for peace talks. Despite the ceasefire, clashes still occasionally break out between the MILF and government forces.