SALON

Monday, Oct 29, 2012 4:00 AM UTC

4 Philippine marines, 2 militants killed in clash

By

Topics: From the Wires,

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine marines who were searching for long-held hostages battled al-Qaida-linked militants in a fierce clash that killed four marines and at least two insurgents in the country’s south, officials said.

The fighting erupted in the mountainous hinterlands of Patikul town in Sulu province, where the Abu Sayyaf movement has survived in jungle encampments despite years of U.S.-backed Philippine military offensives. Twenty-two marines were wounded in the daylong clash Sunday that involved up to 200 Abu Sayyaf fighters and their allies, officials said.

Regional military commander Maj. Gen. Rey Ardo ordered air force planes and navy ships to back up government forces, ensure the recovery of the slain marines and transport the wounded to a hospital. However, bad weather delayed the rapid deployment of assault helicopters and by the time they flew over, the militants had dispersed, the marines said.

Regional military spokesman Lt. Col. Randolph Cabangbang said the marines had been deployed in Patikul to check the reported sighting of hostages held by the Abu Sayyaf, which has been blamed for separate kidnappings of two Europeans, a Japanese, a Jordanian and two Filipinos. They stumbled upon the militants under Abu Sayyaf commander Radulan Sahiron and gunmen loyal to Tahir Sali, a commander of the larger rebel group Moro National Liberation Front.

Sahiron and Sali, who maintain encampments in Patikul’s jungles, have long been suspected of collaborating to carry out ransom kidnappings to raise funds.

The Europeans — Ewold Horn of the Netherlands and Lorenzo Vinciguerra of Switzerland — were seized by gunmen in February while bird watching in the southernmost island province of Tawi Tawi. They were later moved to nearby Jolo Island in Sulu province, where they have been seen by villagers in the custody of Abu Sayyaf gunmen, according to police.

Police initially believed the two were seized by ordinary kidnapping gangs.

Aside from the Europeans, the militants are believed to be holding a Japanese treasure hunter, along with a Jordanian TV journalist and two Filipino crewmen who reportedly traveled to Abu Sayyaf camps in Sulu to interview the militants in June but have failed to return.

While Abu Sayyaf abductions still occur, they are far fewer today than the massive kidnappings that terrorized Sulu and outlying provinces in early 2000 when the brutal group still had many commanders and strong ties with terrorist organizations including the Indonesian-based Jemaah Islamiyah.

The militant Islamist movement has also received support in the past from al-Qaida.

More Jim Gomez.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 0 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations