One soldier dead in southern RP violence

One soldier dead in southern RP violence

THE PHILIPPINES: Philippine troops and about 100 suspected Muslim militants exchanged heavy gunfire deep in the mountains of the southwestern island of Jolo, killing one soldier and an unknown number of rebels, the army said on Wednesday.

Brig. Gen. Alexander Aleo, commander of the military's counterterrorism task force, said fighting broke out late on Tuesday when soldiers ran into a large group of Abu Sayyaf rebels in the mountains near the town of Indanan.

The clash was the first contact with the rebels since a week ago, when troops in the town of Panamao came under mortar barrages.

"We lost only one but our troops may have inflicted a heavy toll on the enemy side," Aleo told reporters. "Sporadic fighting continued through the night."

Abu Sayyaf, the smallest of four Muslim rebel groups in the southern Philippines, is suspected of links with al-Qaeda and the regional militant network Jamaah Islamiyah.

Abu Sayyaf has been blamed for a wave of bombings in the south and Manila since 2002. The group claimed the worst terrorism attack in the mainly Roman Catholic country -- the 2004 bombing of a ferry near the capital that killed more than 100 people. -- Reuters