Philippine military reports 18 casualties in fresh clashes with rebels

ZAMBOANGA CITY – The Philippine military said a total of 7 soldiers were wounded in fierce clashes Thursday with Abu Sayyaf that also left 3 rebels dead in the troubled province of Basilan.

Ensign Ian Chester Ramos, a military spokesman, said 8 rebels were also injured in the fighting that erupted in Tipo-Tipo town earlier in the day. He said one the slain rebel had been identified as Abdullah Kalitot alias Hidzran.

“Ground commanders reported three Abu Sayyaf killed and eight more wounded,” Ramos told the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.

Marine Captain Maria Rowena Muyuela, of the Western Mindanao Command, said six of the wounded soldiers suffered minor wounds. “Seven soldiers were wounded in action – six of them suffered minor wounds,” she said in a separate interview.

She said security forces were pursuing Abu Sayyaf leaders, Puruji Indama and Nurhasan Jamiri, in Tipo-Tipo town when troops encountered the rebels and killing 3 of them.

According to Capt. Franco Salvador Suelto, of the 1^st Infantry Division, troops were scouring the town’s hinterlands where the group of Indama and Jamiri fled. He said Brig. Gen. Gerardo Barrientos, the regional army commander, ordered troops to intensify the campaign against the Abu Sayyaf in the province. (Mindanao Examiner)