AFP claims 18 Sayyaf men killed in Basilan clash

Abu Sayyaf group. AP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Deaths continue to pile up three days after government forces clashed with the Abu Sayyaf group in Basilan.

The military said it listed 18 fatalities and 14 wounded from the bandits’ side.

It added that two soldiers were killed and  31 others were wounded in the encounters.

In a media briefing at Camp Aguinaldo, AFP Spokesman Major General Domingo Tutaan, who quoted Lieutenant General Rustico Guerrero, commander of the Western Mindanao Command, said that the clashes broke out after members of the bandits extorted workers at the construction  site for the Magkawa-Albarka Road.

In a text message, Guerrero, however, said that there were no bodies recovered on Tipo-Tipo and Al-Barka in Basilan.

“It’s a consolidated info lately received from our sources in the field and from the communities,” Guerrero said. “So it’s difficult to confirm this on the ground.”

According to Tutaan, the two military casualties, and the 31 others who were wounded, came from the 18th Infantry Battalion, with “25 or 26” of the wounded nursing superficial wounds that came from shrapnel.

He added that 18 of the wounded soldiers are being treated at the Camp Navarro General Hospital in Zamboanga.

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