MANILA, Nov 17 - The Philippine military said on Thursday it had arrested two members of the country's largest Muslim rebel group suspected of working with regional militant network Jemaah Islamiah (JI) to bomb a southern city last year.

The announcement follows the arrest of three suspected Muslim militants last month, also on charges of involvement in the two Davao City bombings in early 2003 that killed 38 people.

"We arrested two suspects in two high profile terrorist bombing missions in the region, carried out with the knowledge of Jemaah Islamiah," Brigadier-General Alexander Yano, a military spokesman, told a briefing.

The handcuffed suspects wearing orange prison shirts were paraded before reporters. Yano said Rahman Camili and Rio Manamba were caught separately in southern Mindanao island this week based on information from two men arrested in Manila last month on suspicion of plotting to bomb the U.S. embassy.

He said Camili was suspected of planting a bomb outside Davao airport in March 2003 while Manamba was suspected to be behind the second bomb attack at a wharf a month later.

The MILF denied the men had links to JI and accused elements within the military of trying to derail a peace process that is meant to result in formal talks in the coming months after a largely successful 16-month ceasefire. It has said the three suspects arrested last month had no current links with the MILF and could be military agents.

MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said the rebel group would protest the arrest of Camili and Manamba when government and MILF truce panels meet next week.

"They have not done anything wrong," Kabalu told Reuters. "They are our members and the MILF is not involved in any terrorist attack. They are making a big mistake."

Jemaah Islamiah, linked to al Qaeda by various governments, is blamed for bombings on Indonesia's Bali island in 2002 that killed 202 people and other attacks in the region.

The military says the Davao attacks were planned and financed by an Indonesian JI member called Zulkifli who was arrested in Malaysia last year.

The Department of Justice earlier this year withdrew charges against 185 MILF members, including senior leaders, removing one of the main obstacles to the resumption of peace talks.

Security analysts say there is overwhelming evidence that the MILF has sheltered and shared training with JI members at its camps in Mindanao, but add it is unclear whether the MILF leadership continues to sanction the links.

The MILF, which wants independence or strong autonomy for Mindanao's Muslim-majority areas, has come under pressure to cut links with foreign militants as formal peace talks brokered by Malaysia edge closer.