The spiritual leader of the Philippines? largest Muslim rebel group warned against reviving conflict yesterday as followers feted the end of the fasting month of Ramadan with dawn prayers and automatic gunfire.

A recent spate of bombings has threatened a fragile 2003 ceasefire between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the government of the largely Catholic country but Ustadz Omar Pasigan warned against violence.

?It is haram (forbidden) for us Muslims to kill without any reason, even if the target is an unbeliever,? said Pasigan, Grand Mufti on the southern island of Mindanao, where around 3 million Muslims celebrated Eid Ul-Fitr. Other clerics echoed his words.

Last week, police charged MILF leader Ebrahim Murad in absentia for his alleged role in three bombings that killed seven people and wounded more than 30 in the south, angering his followers and threatening long-running peace talks.

Security officials had previously blamed members of Abu Sayyaf, the Philippines? smallest and most violent Muslim rebel group, for the attacks, which came during a long-running offensive against Abu Sayyaf?s leadership.

The MILF has accused some local politicians of fabricating evidence against Murad to derail stalled talks on creating an enlarged Muslim homeland in the south and end a conflict that has killed more than 120,000 since the late 1960s.

The Philippines has declared the 24th of October a holiday to mark Eid Ul-Fitr but Filipino Muslims, who refer to the festival as ?Hariraya Puasa?, celebrated yesterday.

A police spokesman in the southern city of Cotabato said small weapons had been fired illegally to mark the end of Ramadan but nobody was reported hit by stray bullets.

Firing guns is a commemorative ritual in the Philippines, a trigger-happy country where police estimate around 330,000 illegal firearms are in circulation.