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Saturday, August 18, 2007
15 Philippine marines killed in fighting with al-Qaida-linked militants (4:30 p.m.)
MANILA -- Fifteen Philippine marines were killed and seven others wounded in a clash with al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf militants on a southern island province Saturday, a military spokesman said. The military estimated 30 militants died.
The marines attacked an Abu Sayyaf camp and engaged the militants in close-quarter combat in a remote village outside the town of Ungkaya Pukan on Basilan island early Saturday, Lieutenant Colonel Bartolome Bacarro said.
Bacarro said the number of Abu Sayyaf fatalities in Saturday's clash had yet to be confirmed, but the bodies of two commanders were recovered at the site, including one believed to have been involved in the July 10 beheadings.
Since July 10, skirmishes left 14 marines dead, 10 of whom were beheaded. Last week, 27 army soldiers and 32 Abu Sayyaf gunmen were killed in separate clashes on Jolo island, farther south. (AP) |
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