Philippines: Army offensive kills 8 militants and wounds commander
Eight more Abu Sayyaf extremists have been killed and a top militant commander has been wounded as Philippine troops pressed a major offensive in the country’s south following the killings of 18 soldiers in fierce fighting over the weekend, the military said Monday.
Regional military spokesman Maj. Filemon Tan said four Abu Sayyaf gunmen who were wounded in battle Saturday later died and four other militants were killed in fresh fighting Sunday in the hilly outskirts of Tipo Tipo town on Basilan island.
A ruthless Abu Sayyaf commander, Puruji Indama, was seriously wounded in the head either by gun or artillery fire, Tan said. Indama has been linked to deadly bombings, kidnappings for ransom and beheadings of Filipino marines.
Daylong fighting in the outskirts of Basilan’s Tipo Tipo town left 18 soldiers dead Saturday in the military’s largest single-day combat loss so far this year. The killings occurred as the Philippines marked its Day of Valor holiday to remember its war dead.
At least 53 other soldiers were wounded in the 10-hour battle that initially killed five extremists, including a Moroccan fighter who was wearing a suicide vest rigged with pipe bombs when he died, Tan said.