Philippine extremist clash leaves 11 dead

Philippine forces clashed with extremists on a southern island on Thursday, leaving seven soldiers and four militants dead, the military said. Elite rangers battled members of the Al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group on the troubled southern island of Basilan, with three soldiers and two insurgents also wounded in the clash. The Abu Sayyaf gunmen had initially attacked rubber plantation workers in the island and the military had rushed to the scene to repel them, said regional military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Randolph Cabangbang. Helicopter gunships were deployed to support the troops, he said. “The fighting is taking place in a forested area. Our troops are engaged in an intense running gunbattle,” Cabangbang said. The same group of Abu Sayyaf fighters had launched similar attacks in the same part of Basilan in previous weeks including an ambush that left six farm workers dead and 22 wounded on July 11, he said. The plantation workers’ cooperative operating in the area had previously received extortion letters purportedly from the Abu Sayyaf demanding payment of over $1,000 a month in exchange for not being harmed.