JOLO, Sulu -- (UPDATE 3) Two soldiers were killed and five others were wounded when government troops clashed with suspected Abu Sayyaf bandits in Maimbung town on Monday dawn military officials said.
Lieutenant General Nelson Allaga, chief of the military's Western Mindanao Command, said three Abu Sayyaf bandits belonging to the group under Commanders Abu Pula and Albader Parad were also killed in the encounter that happened at 2:55 a.m.
Allaga, Western Mindanao Command chief, said the soldiers who were killed in the firefight in Barangay (village) Ipil were a Navy Swag and a US-trained LRC.
Five other Navy men were hurt, including a Navy officer identified only as Ensign Las.
Allaga said they received information that businesswoman Maria Rosalie Lao, who was abducted on January 28 in Barangay (village) Kakuyagan here, was brought to the village of Ipil in Maimbung.
Major Eugene Batara, spokesman of Western Mindanao Command, said that encounter lasted for about an hour.
Hadja Jainab Abdulmajid, head of the Provincial Area Coordinating Council, said they were still verifying reports that five civilians were killed in the encounter.
Allaga said the military also received a similar report of civilians getting caught in the crossfire, but which still had to be verified.
Sources in Jolo said there were civilian casualties.
The incident happened hours before Italian Ambassador Rubens Anna Fedele and Finland Ambassador Riita Resch visited this town Monday morning to check on the peace and development situation of the province.
Last week, troops on nearby Tawi-Tawi island shot and killed an Abu Sayyaf commander, Wahab Upao, but missed the Indonesian terror suspect, Dulmatin, one of several operatives of the Indonesian-based militant group Jemaah Islamiyah believed to be hiding in the southern Philippines.
Dulmatin has been implicated in the 2002 bombings that killed 202 people in Bali, Indonesia.
The Abu Sayyaf, linked to al-Qaeda, has been blamed for bombings, kidnappings and beheadings.
US-backed offensives against the group have reduced its strength to about 300 guerrillas from more than 1,000 during its heyday in 2000, according to the military.
