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>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>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>Five men snatched the two fishermen late on Saturday from a Malaysian-registered fishing trawler off Sabah. The army suspects the incident could be the work of Abu Sayyaf rebels.

"The gunmen and their victims sped off towards the southern Philippines," army spokesman, Major Filemon Tan, told reporters, adding ground and naval units were trying to intercept the assailants.

Abu Sayyaf operates in the Sulu Archipelago close to Malaysia and was founded with a separatist agenda, pledging allegiance to Islamic State and al-Qaeda.

But it is better known for its lucrative acts of banditry and piracy that have not abated, even as Philippine troops step up offensives to dismantle the network.

President Rodrigo Duterte discussed the maritime threat of Abu Sayyaf with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak recently, agreeing to cooperate to stop the kidnapping.

Abu Sayyaf's tactics are brutal, decapitating hostages when ransom demands are not met.

They are holding 22 captives, including a Dutch, a German, a South Korean, five Malaysians, two Indonesians, six Vietnamese and six Filipinos.</s>KUALA LUMPUR: Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein has stressed that the Sulu Sea should not become the ‘new Somalia’.

He said he touched on the need to ramp up efforts to prevent the area from turning into the ‘new Somalia’ at the just concluded 10th Asean Defence Ministers Meeting (ADMM) Retreat in Vientianne, Laos.

The Sulu Sea Trilateral Initiative which involves joint patrols by Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines was among the issues brought up at the retreat.

The Sulu Sea is noted for piracy and kidnappings and hence the initiative to prevent a similar situation like Somalia where merchant ships fear to use navigation routes off that strife-torn country.

While there, Hishammuddin and his Indonesian and Phillippine counterparts also held the 4th Trilateral Ministerial Level Meeting on the initiative.

“The discussions focused heavily on operationalising joint exercises, coordinated maritime patrols and joint air patrols that are soon to be initiated by the three nations,” he said in a statement here yesterday.

Hishammuddin said he also highlighted Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s meeting with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak last week, and the finalising of the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for ‘Hot Pursuit’ into Philippine waters.

Hishammuddin said that at the ADMM Retreat, he also brought up the Daesh issue, which remains as Asean’s main and most current threat, and elaborated on how efforts against the terrorist group in Mosul, Aleppo and Raqa was a mixed blessing.

“On one hand depriving the group of its territory is crucial to damaging its brand but this increases the likelihood that other regions including Southeast Asia may become either a new home for recruits or an alternative target for attacks,” he said.

He added that he also stated that this was not a new phenomenon as Jemaah Islamiyah, Southeast Asia’s offshoot of Al-Qaeda, was formed in the early 2000s with the help of returnees from the Afghanistan conflict.

On the Asean-Japan Defence Ministers Informal Meeting, Hishammuddin said he concurred with Japan’s Defence Minister Tomomi Inada on how the world was a very different place now and threats to security had changed dramatically.

“Threats of terrorism are increasingly decentralised, difficult to track and even more more difficult to prevent,” he said, adding that he called upon Japan to further explore their engagement with Asean specifically on Peacekeeping Operations (PKO) and Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR).

On PKO, he had highlighted Japan’s significant contributions to the Malaysian Peacekeeping Centre, specifically for the ‘Capacity Building Support for Malaysia’s Role in Multi-Dimensional Peacekeeping Training’.

He said that he hoped that the two items be further developed and discussed to be considered for the ‘Concept Paper for Asean-Japan Defence Cooperation’.

Hishammuddin said on the sidelines of both meetings, all 10 Asean Defence Ministers paid a courtesy call on Laos President Bounnhang Vorachith, and also witnessed a demonstration of the Direct Communications Link (DCL) between the 10 Asean Defence Ministers.

This is a proposal that was initially broached by the Sultan of Brunei Darussalam Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah and was subsequently taken up under the framework of the ADMM.

“The purpose of the DCL is to provide a secure means by which any two Asean Defence Ministers may communicate with each other to arrive at mutual decisions in handling crises – especially those in the maritime realm – to defuse misunderstandings, prevent escalation and promote rapid response,” Hishammuddin said.

Hishammuddin added that he also had a very productive bilateral meeting with the Union Defence Minister of Myanmar, Lt Gen Sein Win and that the discussions mainly focused on the situation in Myanmar’s Rakhine state and the Rohingya people. — Bernama
At least 14 are killed in clashes with suspected Abu Sayyaf militants in Sulu, Philippines.