Five Filipino soldiers and three Abu Sayyaf militants were killed in the southern Philippines during an operation against the alleged perpetrators of last week's attack on a cathedral in Jolo that killed at least 20 people, the army said on Sunday.

Another 18 soldiers were wounded during the one hour, 50 minute-long gun battle that began at around 11:30 am on Saturday in Patikul in Sulu province, spokesperson Col. Gerry Besana said according to the official Philippine News Agency. </s> MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine military says three soldiers have been killed and 17 wounded in nearly two hours of fighting against about 150 Muslim militants in the south.

Regional military spokesman Maj. Filemon Tan says Abu Sayyaf gunmen withdrew after the fierce clash on Saturday in the mountains of Patikul town in Sulu province, and are being pursued by government forces. He says an unspecified number of militants were either wounded or killed.

Tan said Sunday the militants were led by Radulan Sahiron, a one-armed commander long wanted by the U.S. and Philippine governments for his alleged role in kidnappings for ransom and other acts.

Malaysian forces killed three Abu Sayyaf gunmen and captured two others in a failed kidnapping attempt in Malaysia's Sabah state near the southern Philippines on Thursday. </s> MANILA, Philippines — A Philippine military spokesman says at least five soldiers and three Muslim militants were killed in a fierce battle as troops pressed a new offensive in the south following a deadly church bombing blamed on Islamic State group-linked gunmen.

Regional military spokesman Col. Gerry Besana says another five soldiers and 15 militants were wounded in nearly two hours of fighting Saturday between army troops and about 150 Abu Sayyaf gunmen in the jungles off Patikul town in Sulu province.

Besana says the militants were led by Abu Sayyaf commander Hatib Hajan Sawadjaan, who has been suspected of plotting the bombing of a Roman Catholic cathedral in the Sulu capital of Jolo on Sunday that killed 22 people and wounded more than 100 others. Sawadjaan apparently escaped. </s> MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine troops killed three suspected Abu Sayyaf militants and suffered five fatalities during a firefight on a remote southern island, the military said on Saturday.

The clash with more than 100 members of the Abu Sayyaf group broke out in the town of Patikul in the Sulu province at 11:30 a.m. as troops pursued those behind a church attack on Sunday, Colonel Gerry Besana, spokesman for the military’s Western Mindanao Command said.

The church bombing in Sulu, which killed 22 people and wounded more than 100 including civilians and soldiers, was a suicide attack carried out by an Indonesian couple, with help of the Abu Sayyaf group, Interior Minister Eduardo Año said on Friday.

Abu Sayyaf is a militant organization notorious for kidnappings and extremist factions and has pledged allegiance to Islamic State. Sulu province, in the country’s Mindanao region, is a known stronghold of the group.

The encounter in Patikul lasted nearly two hours, Besana said, with five soldiers and 15 militants also wounded.

Martial law has been in place in Mindanao since domestic and foreign fighters dressed in black outfits overran Marawi City in 2017 and clung on through five months of air strikes and street battles reminiscent of scenes in Syria and Iraq. </s> MANILA, Philippines — Fierce clashes erupted Friday between government troops and Muslim extremists in southern Philippines, leaving at least 14 combatants dead, the military said.

The dead included 10 Abu Sayyaf rebels, although troops recovered only three bodies, said military spokesman Maj. Filemon Tan.

Four were killed and nine wounded on the government side, he said.

The fighting began when army units encountered some 150 militants in Patikul township in Sulu province and exchanged fire until the extremists withdrew, Tan said. Soldiers then pounded the rebels' position with artillery fire and put up checkpoints as they pursued the militants.

The Abu Sayyaf, which is blacklisted by the U.S. and the Philippines as a terrorist organization, holds more than a dozen foreign and local hostages.

President Rodrigo Duterte, who took office in June, has ordered troops to destroy the Abu Sayyaf, known for its brutality and ties to foreign militants. He has ruled out the possibility of any peace talks with them as he pursues negotiations with two other larger Muslim insurgent groups. </s> ZAMBOANGA CITY: Security forces were pursuing a large group of Abu Sayyaf rebels in the southern Philippines following a deadly clash that left at least seven people dead in Sulu province.

Officials said four army soldiers and three Abu Sayyaf gunmen were killed in fierce clashes on Friday in Patikul town. They said that nine other soldiers were injured in the fighting that erupted in the village of Buhanginan.

Troops engaged some 150 rebels under Radulan Sahiron, according to army Major Filemon Tan, a spokesman for the Western Mindanao Command. He said there could be many casualties on the Abu Sayyaf but soldiers recovered only three bodies.

Tan said the army fired several rounds of 105mm Howitzer on suspected Abu Sayyaf positions in the town.

The fighting lasted over 45 minutes, but it was not immediately known whether the elusive Abu Sayyaf leader was wounded or killed in the fighting. The bodies of the rebels were recovered by soldiers.

“Despite the casualties incurred, the military continues to conduct combat operations against the ASG [Abu Sayyaf] to destroy the bandits, rescue the kidnap victims and deter terror attacks perpetrated by the bandit group in the province of Sulu and possibly in other provinces as well,” Tan said.

The Abu Sayyaf is still holding more than a dozen Malaysian and Indonesian sailors kidnapped in Sabah, Malaysia, including an elderly German boater. </s> Five Philippines soldiers were killed in fierce fighting with Islamic militants in the south of the country, as they tried in vain to hunt down the suspected perpetrator of last Sunday’s double bombing of a Roman Catholic cathedral.

An army spokesman said that five soldiers were killed on Jolo island by members of Abu Sayyaf, a notorious group of hostage takers who are believed to be behind the bombing of Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount in which 22 worshippers and soldiers died.

The army claims that it killed three militants during close to two hours of fighting on Saturday in jungle on the outskirts of the town of Patikul. It admitted, however, that none of their bodies have been recovered. Eighteen soldiers were wounded. </s> ZAMBOANGA CITY—At least 14 people were killed—10 of them Abu Sayyaf bandits—during a heavy clash amid an intensified anti-Abu Sayyaf operation in Patikul, Sulu, on Friday.

Major Filemon Tan Jr., the spokesperson of the Western Mindanao Command, said four soldiers were slain while nine other soldiers had been wounded in the encounter.

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The Abu Sayyaf suffered undetermined number of injuries, he added.

Tan said out of the 10 slain bandits, only three bodies had been recovered so far.

The clash ensued when operating troops under the 35th Infantry Battalion stumbled on a large group of about 150 bandits under Radullan Sahiron in Sitio Dyundangan in Barangay Buhanginan, Tan reported.

He said the firefight lasted for almost 45 minutes and stopped only when the Abu Sayyaf withdrew.

Tan said soldiers continue to pursue the group while support units fire 105-millimeter Howitzers./rga

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MOST READ </s> Three Filipino soldiers were killed and 17 others wounded in nearly two hours of fighting with about 150 Muslim militants in the south, the military said Sunday.

The Abu Sayyaf gunmen withdrew after the fierce clash on Saturday in the mountains of Patikul town in Sulu province, and are being pursued by government forces, said regional military spokesman Maj. Filemon Tan.

An unspecified number of militants were either wounded or killed in the latest flare-up in a monthslong offensive ordered by President Rodrigo Duterte. Tan said the troops were backed by assault aircraft and artillery fire.

The militants were led by Radulan Sahiron, a one-armed commander long wanted by the U.S. and Philippine governments for his alleged role in kidnappings for ransom and other acts. The Abu Sayyaf, an offshoot of a decadeslong Muslim rebellion in the predominantly Roman Catholic nation's south, have survived numerous military offensives, partly thanks to money earned from kidnappings.

In neighboring Malaysia, security forces killed three Abu Sayyaf gunmen and captured two others in a failed kidnapping attempt in Malaysia's Sabah state near the southern Philippines on Thursday. Two other militants were missing after their speedboat was hit by gunfire and sank.

Among those killed was Abraham Hamid, an Abu Sayyaf militant who, the Philippine military said, acted as a spotter in the kidnappings of two Canadians, a Norwegian and a Filipina in the southern Philippines last year. The two Canadians were beheaded and the other two hostages were freed reportedly in exchange for ransom.

Duterte and his Malaysian and Indonesian counterparts have struggled to deal with a wave of attacks by the Abu Sayyaf and allied gunmen who target tugboats and cargo ships in the busy sea waterway. The ransom kidnappings of Malaysian and Indonesian crewmen have continued despite heightened coastal and border security.

Duterte recently said he had agreed to let Malaysian and Indonesian forces cross the sea border while pursuing militants and their victims. More controversially, he said it was OK for the Malaysian and Indonesian forces to bomb the militants along with their captives to ensure the kidnappers would be eradicated.
Three Filipino soldiers are killed and 17 others injured in fighting with Abu Sayyaf militants in the province of Sulu, Philippines.