Philippine troops on Saturday clashed with the Abu Sayyaf group in fierce jungle fighting that left five soldiers and three fighters dead, as the military pushed forward with a fresh offensive sparked by a deadly church bombing in Jolo blamed on the armed group.

Regional military spokesman Colonel Gerry Besana said another five soldiers and 15 fighters were wounded in the fighting between the army and about 150 fighters in the jungles near Patikul town in Sulu province.

"It was a fierce firefight", Besana said. "It went on for nearly two hours."

The news comes as the country's interior secretary revealed that an Indonesian couple was behind the suicide bombing, and it was aimed at fomenting sectarian conflict in the south.

The Abu Sayyaf has previously declared its allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS).

Renewed fears of violence

The fighters were reportedly led by Abu Sayyaf commander Hatib Hajan Sawadjaan, who is suspected of helping plot the January 27 bombing of a Roman Catholic cathedral in the Sulu capital of Jolo that killed 22 people and wounded more than 100.

Sawadjaan apparently withdrew and escaped with the rest of the gunmen, military officials said.

President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered government forces to destroy the Abu Sayyaf following the bombing of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cathedral.

The attack has renewed fears of violence across the Philippines, where the national police have been put on full alert and security has been strengthened in churches, shopping malls and other public areas.

The Abu Sayyaf, which has about 300 to 400 armed fighters, has been blacklisted by the United States and the Philippines as a terrorist organisation because of years of bombings, kidnappings and beheadings in the predominantly Roman Catholic nation.

Government forces have over the years pressed on sporadic offensives to crush the group, including in Jolo, a poverty-wracked island of more than 700,000 people where Muslims are the majority. A few thousand Catholics also live in Jolo.

Indonesian suicide bombers?

Since the church attack, the air force has launched air raids on suspected Abu Sayyaf bases near Patikul and police killed a suspected fighter during a raid in the city.

Duterte told reporters earlier this week that the Jolo church bombing was a suicide attack carried out by a couple, who are members of the Abu Sayyaf.

Interior Secretary Eduardo Ano said on Friday that an Indonesian couple was behind the suicide bombing, and it was aimed at fomenting sectarian conflict in the south.

The Indonesian man reportedly used the nom de guerre Abu Huda, and Philippine authorities said they would coordinate with their Indonesian counterparts to try to validate the identities of the two.

Indonesian foreign ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir said the government has not been able to confirm the involvement of Indonesian nationals in the attack.

There has been speculation that the church bombing may be a diversionary move by the Abu Sayyaf after troops recently carried out an offensive that killed a number of ISIL-linked fighters in an encampment in the hinterlands of Lanao del Sur province, also in Mindanao.

The area is near Marawi, a Muslim city that was besieged for five months in 2017 by hundreds from the ISIL-aligned Maute group, including foreign fighters.

Troops quelled the insurrection, which left more 1,100 people dead, mostly fighters, and the heart of the mosque-studded city in ruins.

Duterte declared martial law in the southern third of the country to deal with the Marawi siege, his worst security crisis.

His martial law declaration has been extended to allow troops to end what Duterte called a "rebellion" by radical Muslim groups and other fighters, but bombings and other attacks have continued.</s>Two Indonesian suicide bombers, a man and a woman, had carried out the twin blasts in a cathedral on the Sulu province in southern Philippines, which killed 22 people, the Philippine interior secretary said on Friday.

In an official event in the central city of Leyte, Eduardo Ano said that the Abu Sayyaf group had trained the militants, researched the target, carried out reconnaissance and surveillance and transported the couple to the church.</s>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 (BLOOMBERG) - Philippines soldiers were involved in fresh clashes with Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS)-inspired militants in the southern island of Mindanao on Saturday (Feb 2), a day after the authorities said two Indonesian suicide bombers were behind the Jan 27 explosions that left 22 people dead in a Catholic church.

Military operations have intensified in a terrorist lair in Maguindanao, part of Mindanao, with bomber planes being used to destroy bunkers that occupy about 20 people, a military spokesman said in a mobile phone message.

In the nearby Sulu province, soldiers encountered about 100 Abu Sayyaf members and a firefight is going on.

Interior Secretary Eduardo Ano said on Friday that two suicide bombers from Indonesia were behind last Sunday's explosions in Sulu that also injured about a hundred people. Members of the Abu Sayyaf acted as a guide in the bombings, Mr Ano told reporters in the central province of Leyte.

CNN Philippines also quoted Mr Ano as saying the Indonesian couple wanted to set an example among Filipino militants, adding there are still some foreign terrorists in the country.

The Philippine military this week launched an airstrike against a splinter group from the Abu Sayyaf that it believed led the attack.

Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana earlier said a Yemeni couple may have been behind the blast.

The bombings came days after voters endorsed a new autonomous region intended to end decades of violence in the impoverished Muslim-majority area.</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: A "fierce firefight" on Saturday killed five Philippine soldiers and three militants suspected of this week’s deadly cathedral bombing in the nation’s restive south, the military said.

The soldiers battled the Abu Sayyaf militants on the southern island of Jolo, which is the group’s stronghold as well as the site of dual bomb attack on January 27 that killed 21 people at Sunday mass.

After the cathedral bombing, President Rodrigo Duterte singled out the kidnap-for-ransom group -- which has previously been blamed for some of the Philippines’ deadliest attacks -- and ordered the military to "crush" them. "It was a fierce firefight", regional military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Gerry Besana told AFP, confirming the death toll. "It went on for nearly two hours."

Philippine officials have theorised in public that the cathedral attack was the work of at least one suicide bomber, but have also conceded they have not been able to confirm their suspicion.</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>MANILA — Philippine troops clashed with Abu Sayyaf gunmen Saturday in fierce jungle fighting that killed five soldiers and three militants, as the military pushed forward with a fresh offensive sparked by a deadly church bombing blamed on the extremists.

Regional military spokesman Col. Gerry Besana said another five soldiers and 15 militants were wounded in nearly two hours of fighting between the army and about 150 Islamic State group-linked fighters in the jungles near Patikul town in Sulu province.

The militants were led by Abu Sayyaf commander Hatib Hajan Sawadjaan, who is suspected of helping plot the Jan. 27 bombing of a Roman Catholic cathedral in the Sulu capital of Jolo that killed 22 people and wounded more than 100. Sawadjaan apparently withdrew and escaped with the rest of the gunmen, military officials said.

President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered government forces to destroy the Abu Sayyaf following the bombing of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cathedral. The attack has renewed terrorism fears across the Philippines, where the national police have been put on full alert and security has been strengthened in churches, shopping malls and other public areas.

Abu Sayyaf, which has about 300 to 400 armed fighters, has been blacklisted by the United States and the Philippines as a terrorist organization because of years of bombings, kidnappings and beheadings in the predominantly Roman Catholic nation.

Government forces have over the years sought to crush the group, including in Jolo, a poverty-wracked island of more than 700,000 people where Muslims are the majority.

Since the church attack, the air force has launched air strikes on suspected militant bases near Patikul.

Duterte told reporters last week that the Jolo church bombing was a suicide attack carried out by a militant couple.

Interior Secretary Eduardo Ano said Friday that an Indonesian couple was behind the suicide bombing and it was aimed at fomenting sectarian conflict in the south. The Indonesian man reportedly used the nom de guerre Abu Huda and Philippine authorities said they would coordinate with their Indonesian counterparts to try to validate the identities of the two.</s>Manila, Philippines - Back-to-back explosions at a Roman Catholic cathedral followed by a grenade attack on a mosque last week have swiftly ended the honeymoon for Filipinos celebrating the ratification of the Bangsamoro, a political agreement designed to end decades of violence in the southern Philippines by strengthening self-rule for the country's Muslim minorities.

The referendum that confirmed the Bangsamoro took place on January 21.

Six days later, the two bomb blasts at the church in Jolo town in Sulu province killed at least 21 people and wounded more than 100 others attending a Sunday service. Three days later, a grenade was thrown on a mosque in Zamboanga city in the middle of the night, killing two people and wounding four.

Sulu and Zamboanga are in the volatile and poverty-ridden Mindanao region in the southern Philippines, where Muslim rebels have been battling the government since the 1970s.

At least 120,000 people have been killed in the fighting.

The national government in Manila denied the attacks had anything to do with the referendum or its result.

But the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which negotiated for the Bangsamoro and is expected to lay down its weapons to govern the area, says the incidents are a challenge to the peace agreement.

The Jolo bombing was "nothing but a cowardly and evil attempt to extinguish the hope for peace that we have in the newly ratified Bangsamoro Organic Law", the group said in a statement.

"The forces of extremism, wherever they may be coming from, are bent to keep us in the cycle of violence, distrust and hatred that we want to put an end to," it added.

Philippine authorities, although they initially downplayed a claim of responsibility by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group, suspect the Jolo cathedral attack was the work of an ISIL-linked faction of the Abu Sayyaf armed group.

The Abu Sayyaf, based in Sulu province, is a relatively small organisation notorious for bombings, beheadings and kidnap-for-ransom operations in the southern Philippines and the seas around Malaysia's Sabah state.

Like the MILF, the Abu Sayyaf is a splinter group from the original Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), the first to rebel and fight the government for an independent state in Mindanao.

But unlike the MILF and the MNLF, the Abu Sayyaf rejects autonomy.

It has also outdone both groups in terms of brutality, which is why the Abu Sayyaf is now widely regarded as mere bandits and pirates - rebels without a cause.

"You have the usual suspects, which is of course the Abu Sayyaf," security analyst Jose Antonio Custodio told Al Jazeera. "But sometimes these groups do it upon the bidding of other groups that prefer to operate in the shadows."

Aside from rebel groups, as in most parts of the Philippines, several political dynasties wield power in Mindanao. Some of these wealthy and influential clans are known to employ private armies or, in some cases, existing armed groups.

Among the provinces comprising an already existing autonomous region, Sulu is the only one where votes against the Bangsamoro exceeded those for it. Elsewhere in Mindanao, the "yes" vote won by a landslide.

However, the ratified law does not allow Sulu or any of the existing autonomous provinces to exclude themselves from the Bangsamoro; only those outside can opt in.

Sulu Governor Abdusakur Tan II has formally opposed the Bangsamoro, filing a case at the Supreme Court in October and insisting the autonomy law must include an option for exclusion.

Tan has also questioned the Bangsamoro's form of government, arguing that the country's constitution prohibits regional parliaments.

The planned Bangsamoro parliament will distribute power among political parties, district representatives and sectoral groups to diminish the power of the political clans whose feudal-style rule has left the region desperately poor.

Whichever groups were responsible for the attacks, the government has decided it's the Abu Sayyaf they will pursue and punish.

President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the military to wage an "all-out war" to "crush" the group.

Government forces have already resumed air attacks on suspected Abu Sayyaf hideouts in Sulu; the military's preferred strategy when ground combat is hampered by the difficult and remote terrain.

Delfin Lorenzana, Duterte's defence secretary, said it was difficult to fight the Abu Sayyaf because people in Sulu, whether out of fear or because they support them, were unlikely to reveal the fighters' whereabouts.

Some local officials even protect the Abu Sayyaf, Lorenzana added.

A fresh wave of violence, it seems, is heaping more pressure on the Bangsamoro even before it has begun.</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.
Five soldiers and three militants die in an attack that also injured several others in Patikul, Sulu, in The Philippines.