45 KILLED IN MAJOR BATTLE IN SOUTHERN PHILIPPINE

A major battle between Philippine troops and Muslim guerrillas on a remote southern island has killed at least 45 people, a senior military commander said today.

• At least 22 rebels and 23 soldiers were killed in a military assault yesterday on a base of Abu Sayyaf rebels in the interior of the southern island of Basilan, Brigadier-General Rustico Guerrero told reporters.
• “We launched a decisive law enforcement operation targeting the Abu Sayyaf’s main training base on Basilan, but we were met by heavy resistance,” Guerrero said.
• Other officials said the battle died down after eight hours, as the guerrillas fled into the heavily wooded interior of the island.
• Rear Admiral Alexander Pama, a commander on Basilan, said an estimated 40 rebels were killed, but only 22 bodies had been recovered at the scene of the conflict.
• It was close quarter combat, the two sides almost came into hand-to-hand battle, Pama told Reuters, adding the proximity meant the military could not call in air strikes.
• The Abu Sayyaf, the smallest but the most deadly of several Muslim groups fighting for independence from Manila in the south of the Roman Catholic state, is estimated to have about 350 hard-core followers based mostly on Basilan and the nearby island of Jolo.
• It has links with Jemaah Islamiah, a pan-Asian radical Muslim group blamed for attacks in Indonesia, including the 2002 Bali bombings and the bomb attacks on two hotels in Jakarta last month.
• Abu Sayyaf is blamed for the worst militant attack in the Philippines, the sinking of a ferry in Manila Bay in 2004 in which 100 people were killed.
• It has also been in the spotlight for high-profile kidnappings, most recently of three Red Cross officials on Jolo who were later freed. Newspapers said large ransoms were paid, although officials have denied any payments.

Source: Reuters