MANILA (AFP) - A soldier was wounded as a group of Islamic militants fought off a government raid in Mindanao and escaped, the military said Thursday.
Elite counter-terrorist forces and military intelligence agents surrounded two huts used by "more or less 10" members of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) in a rural village near the town of Pantukan on Wednesday, said military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Bartolome Bacarro.
The raiders were met by a volley of gunfire, leaving one soldier wounded while their quarry escaped, he added.
He said the group was allegedly headed by two brothers, surnamed Venancio, who were recruited by JI militants, Bacarro said.
The others who escaped were not identified. But Bacarro said the brothers provided logistical support to the local operations of JI, blamed for the Bali bombings in Indonesia that claimed more than 200 lives.