ZAMBOANGA (Philippines) - ISLAMISTS militants killed a member of the Philippine security forces and wounded six others Saturday in two attacks on a remote southern island, officials said.
A government checkpoint and military patrol base on Basilan Island were targeted an hour apart by Abu Sayyaf snipers, said local police and military spokesmen.
A member of a government-backed militia was killed and two colleagues wounded at the checkpoint, said the island's police chief, Senior Superintendent Antonio Mendoza.
A marine and three militia members were wounded at the joint patrol base in a nearby village, said the regional military spokeswoman, army First Lieutenant Steffani Cacho.
The 400-strong Abu Sayyaf, based mainly in Basilan and nearby Muslim areas, has been blamed for the country's worst terrorist attacks. Set up in the early 1990s, the group works with other militants in nearby Southeast Asian countries in a violent campaign aimed at setting up an Islamic caliphate, according to Western intelligence agencies.
The Philippine navy said on Saturday it would deploy a 100-member marine unit and six gunboats to the south to boost efforts against the Abu Sayyaf, departing from Manila on Monday. Security forces have killed a senior Abu Sayyaf leader, Albader Parad, and arrested several of the group's alleged bomb-makers over the past month. -- AFP
