ZAMBOANGA - Gunmen believed to be followers of a local political warlord killed three soldiers in an ambush in the southern Philippines that also left a child dead, the military said yesterday.

The soldiers were aboard a military truck on routine security patrol in the mainly Muslim city of Marawi in the country's south when they were attacked yesterday night, regional army battalion commander Col. Daniel Lucero said.

"It was a treacherous and unprovoked attack, and I have ordered pursuit operations against the attackers," Lucero told AFP.

He said the ambush triggered a 30-minute gunbattle, during which three soldiers were killed and 10 others were wounded.

A child aboard a vehicle that was caught in the crossfire was also killed, while three other civilians were wounded, the army said.

Lucero said the men behind the attack were believed to be members of a private militia controlled by a local political warlord he did not name.

He said the attack could be in retaliation for the local army's efforts in helping authorities curb illegal logging and drug trafficking in the area.

Local politicians in the country's insurgency-wracked southern region are known to employ their own "private armies", and vendetta killings and blood feuds are common.

A Muslim insurgency that has raged in the country's south for four decades and left 150,000 people dead has also led to a proliferation of unlicensed firearms in the hands of many crime gangs.*AFP

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