12 Dead as Philippine Troops Clash with Abu Sayyaf Militants
Twelve people were killed in the Philippines on Saturday as troops clashed with a militant group blamed for the country's deadliest terror attacks, the military said.
The fighting left seven Filipino marines dead and nine others wounded on the remote southern island of Jolo, military spokesmen said.
Five members of the Abu Sayyaf group were also killed in the firefight, military spokesman Brigadier-General Domingo Tutaan told Agence France Presse in Manila.
"It was an early-morning firefight. Our forces were tracking those responsible for some recent kidnappings in the area, including the wife of a soldier," Tutaan added.
The social worker wife of a marine had been freed unharmed by the Abu Sayyaf on nearby Basilan island two days after her abduction, he said.
The wounded marines were airlifted to a military hospital in the southern port of Zamboanga, Tutaan said, adding none of their injuries was life-threatening.
Colonel Jose Cenabre, commander of a marine brigade in the area, said a marine reconnaissance team under him was involved in the firefight.
"The close-quarter combat resulted casualties on both sides," he told reporters by telephone.
Founded using seed money from al-Qaida in the 1990s, the Abu Sayyaf is blamed for the worst terror attacks in the country, including the firebombing of a ferry in Manila Bay and kidnappings of foreign tourists.
The group is on the U.S. government's list of so-called foreign terrorist organizations.
About 600 U.S. troops have been rotating through the southern Philippines for a decade to help train local troops in hunting the Abu Sayyaf, who enjoy local support at their bases in some of the poorest areas of the Philippines.
Source: Agence France Presse
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