Two soldiers were killed in the fighting on Basilan island that started on Tuesday and dragged on for hours, with the last shots fired on Wednesday morning, Lieutenant Colonel Vincent Teodoro said.
MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine marines backed by air strikes killed at least six Muslim militants during an operation against rebels suspected of involvement in an attack on a U.S. supply helicopter, military officials said on Wednesday.
Two soldiers were killed in the fighting on Basilan island that started on Tuesday and dragged on for hours, with the last shots fired on Wednesday morning, Lieutenant Colonel Vincent Teodoro said.
The militants belonged to the Abu Sayyaf, which President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has vowed to crush, as well as rogue members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which is involved in stop-start peace talks with Manila.
Brigadier-General Juancho Sabban said no one was injured in Monday's attack on a civilian helicopter ferrying supplies for U.S. soldiers who train local troops in the restive south.
!ADVERTISEMENT!Fighting broke out after the rebels attacked Philippine troops hunting for militants behind the helicopter attack, he said.
At least seven militants and five soldiers were wounded in the clashes. A company of marines has occupied a nearby village to prevent the rebels returning.
Separately, an Egyptian suspected of being a bomb expert was arrested early on Wednesday in a raid at an Islamic women's residence in Cotabato City, on the main island of Mindanao, around 200 km (125 miles) northeast of Basilan.
Acting on a tipoff from local residents, a team of police and army personnel retrieved explosive materials, detonating devices, and an MILF manual.
"We are still determining if he has links with the JI (Jemaah Islamiah)," Lieutenant Julieto Ando said.
Regional militant group JI has been blamed for various bomb attacks in the past, including the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, and its members have used remote Philippine islands as bases and trained with local rebels.
Muslim insurgents have been battling for some measure of independence from the largely Catholic Philippines for decades and despite long-running peace talks violence continues to flare due to the military presence, a gun culture and a tradition of kidnap-for-ransom and banditry.
The Philippines is also fighting communist insurgents, who have a presence across the archipelago and continue to attract new recruits due to a yawning gap between a rich minority and the mass poor.
(Reporting by Carmel Crimmins; Additional Reporting by Rosemarie Francisco; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
