By Manny Mogato

JOLO, Philippines, April 19 (Reuters) - The Philippine military vowed on Thursday to hunt down a rogue Islamic rebel leader and his followers despite pressure from Muslim countries to halt its offensive.

Habier Malik, a Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) commander, had already angered the armed forces in February when he held one of their top generals hostage for two nights, and his shelling of a marine camp last Friday was the final straw.

"We will get Malik to face the consequences of his violent actions," Major-General Ruben Rafael, commander of military forces on the southwestern island of Jolo, told Reuters in an interview.

"We cannot allow him to go unpunished. We want this cycle of violence to end soon."

Around 30 rebels, three soldiers and one civilian have been killed and over 40,000 people evacuated since Malik fired mortars at the army last week on Jolo in retaliation for the death of two MNLF members in a "mis-encounter" with the military.

The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), which brokered a 1996 peace deal between the MNLF and Manila, has called for the fighting to stop but Rafael said that would send the wrong message to Malik.

His men have captured the commander's camp after an airstrike using 250 pound bombs and are determined to retain the base, which they had previously captured in 2005 but, under pressure from the OIC, were forced to pull out.

"This time, we will not give up Malik's camp," Rafael said over a lunch of wild boar and noodles at the army base on Jolo.

"We'll teach them a good lesson. We have to impose the rule of law or people like Malik will just laugh at our laws."

Despite the OIC's requests, the Philippine government has given the green light to hunt down Malik, insisting the peace agreement is intact and the offensive is against a rogue element and not the whole MNLF.

"The majority of the MNLF did not support his actions and he's isolated," said Rafael.

EMBARRASSMENT

Analysts say Manila's forceful reaction was inevitable after the commander embarrassed them in February by abducting General Benjamin Dolorfino and Ramon Santos, then head of the government's truce panel.

"After the detention, I think it was only a matter of time before the military and government would engage Malik's group," said Benny Bacani, professor of political law at the University of Notre Dame in Cotabato City, southern Philippines.

"They could not take this sitting down."

The military has said they suspect Malik of sheltering members of the Philippines' most militant organisation, the Abu Sayyaf, and Jemaah Islamiah, which intelligence officials say is a regional terror network behind the 2002 Bali bombings.

But Dolorfino, Manila's military commander, told Reuters he did not believe his one-time captor would help the Abu Sayyaf.

"I believe he would be the last MNLF man who would ever coddle the Abu Sayyaf," he said. "He is very much against what the Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiah do."

The MNLF, including Malik, had been helping thousands of troops, backed by U.S. advisers and equipment, to flush out the Abu Sayyaf from Jolo.

The eight-month ground offensive has been considered a success with over 70 militants, including two top leaders killed.

But some members of the MNLF, already frustrated at the poor implementation of the 1996 peace agreement, are angered that their members are still being killed by "friendly fire" despite the risks they are taking to help flush out the Abu Sayyaf.

"We have run out of what we call maximum tolerance," Malik said in an interview on local television on Thursday. "We have no other choice but to defend ourselves."

(Additional reporting by Carmel Crimmins)

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