(UPDATE) Gov't troops kill 5 Abu Sayyaf members in Sulu
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Xinhua) - Government troops launched an attack this morning on the Abu Sayyaf group in the jungle of of Sulu, Killing five militants and wounding 7 others, a military officer said.
Alan Arrojado, commander of the Joint Task Group Sulu (JTGS), said the government security forces launched the offensive about 7 a.m. at the far flung village of Talipao town.
He said the troops pounced on the militants led by Abu Sayyaf sub-leader Hatib Hajan Sawadjaan while they were regrouping and preparing to move out to elude pursuing troops.
"The offensive resulted in 5 Abu Sayyaf members killed in action and 7 others wounded," Arrojado said.
The 400-strong Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), founded in the early 1990s by extremists, is a violent terrorist group operating in the southern Philippines. The ASG is notorious for a series of kidnappings, bombings and even beheadings in southern Philippines over the past decades.
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