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ZAMBOANGA CITY: Eight combatants have been killed in
a day of fighting between soldiers and Muslim rebels in southern
Philippines, military officials said Wednesday.
According to the military, two
soldiers and six rebels died in the clashes, which broke out on
Tuesday near the town of Ungkaya Pukan in Basilan province in
Mindanao.
About five troops and seven
Muslim gunmen were also wounded, said Lt. Col. Vincent Teodoro.
The Muslim gunmen are a mix of
Abu Sayyaf extremists, who have been linked by security agencies to
al-Qaeda, and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), a Muslim
rebel group that has been negotiating peace with the government.
“They [the rebels] are still
contained in the area,” Teodoro said.
In July, a group of MILF and Abu
Sayyaf gunmen led by Abu Sayyaf leader Furuji Indama ambushed a
Marine convoy in the same area, beheading 10 Marines and sparking
renewed fighting in Basilan.
Last week, the MILF announced it
was postponing the latest round of peace talks with the government.
It described the government as “insincere,” especially on the
issue of ancestral domain.
On Monday, a civilian helicopter,
flying supplies to US military advisers in Basilan, was fired upon,
resulting in injuries to one person aboard. Although the identity of
the gunmen is not yet known, the military has noted that the area is
a known haunt of Muslim militants.
A small contingent—but unknown
number—of US troops is deployed in Basilan to support Filipino
troops in battling the Abu Sayyaf, tagged as a foreign terrorist
organization by the US State Department.
Maj. Eugene Batara, a regional
army spokesman, told The Manila Times that an undetermined number of
militants were believed killed in Tuesday’s clashes.
The town’s Mayor Joel Maturan
said the militants, supposedly backed by rogue members of the MILF,
the country’s largest Muslim rebel group, aided the Abu Sayyaf in
attacking troops in the area.
--Afp And Al Jacinto
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