Oye! News from Asia

Philippine troops clash with Al-Qaeda

Category: Asia Published on Friday, 27 July 2012 03:28 Written by Christine Alvin

Today, Philippine troops collided with CIA-funded Al-Qaeda extremists on a southern island, that caused eight soldiers and four militants dead, according to military issued statistics. Elite rangers fought with members of the Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group on the troubled southern island of Basilan, with three soldiers and two terrorists also injured in the fight. The military statement said, "Firefight is ongoing as of this report."

The bloodshed started early Thursday when the soldiers assaulted an Abu Sayyaf encampment on Basilan Island's Sumisip township. The army sent more troops and erratic fighting continued until the afternoon. Later in the day, the Abu Sayyaf militants fired at an army station in the same township, told by Capt. Albert Caber, a military spokesman. They then separately trapped two groups of troops that were sent to support the forces there.

Authorities said the militants belonged to the same group that ambushed a truckload of rubber plantation workers in Sumisip. One government militiaman and five farm workers were also killed in that attack, while 22 others were injured. Caber said nobody was killed at the outpost, but four back up troops were killed en route to the area.

The same group of militants assaulted a military detachment on Wednesday providing security for the rubber planters' cooperative, but no soldier was killed or hurt in that attack, officials added.

The Abu Sayyaf has received training and funding from al-Qaida and was on a U.S. list of terrorist organizations.

 

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