Clash in southern Philippines leaves 8 dead, 22 wounded
MANILA. KAZINFORM - Seven Muslim militants and a Philippine government soldier died while 22 other people were injured in a fierce clash Friday morning on the southern island of Jolo, a military official said.
According to Brig. Gen. Alan Arrojado, Radullan Sahiron, a ranking Abu Sayyaf leader with a $1 million bounty on his head from the U.S. government, is among six militants injured in the clash on the island, which is part of the Sulu Archipelago that lies southwest of Mindanao, Kyodo reports.
Sahiron took part in a 2001 abduction of foreigners and locals from a posh resort on the island of Palawan, located on the opposite side of the Sulu Sea, that ended in a bloody rescue operation by government forces on Basilan, the largest island of the Sulu Archipelago.
Arrojado said Army troopers encountered some 100 Abu Sayyaf fighters led by Sahiron in Patikul, and the firefight lasted for more than an hour. The military suffered one fatality, while 16 soldiers were wounded.
The Abu Sayyaf claims to promote an independent Islamic state in western Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago, but it has engaged in kidnappings for ransom, beheadings of hostages, bombings, assassinations and extortion.
Accused by government officials of having links with terrorist groups al-Qaida and Jemaah Islamiyah, its membership is thought to have dwindled to no more than 400 in recent years in the wake of enhanced U.S. military support to the Philippines.