By DPA
Zamboanga City : Fifteen marines and an air force pilot were killed Saturday and seven others wounded in a clash with Islamic militants in southern Philippines, an armed forces spokesman said.
Lieutenant Colonel Bartolome Bacarro said fighting erupted early morning when government troops attacked an encampment of Abu Sayyaf rebels in Unkaya Pukan town in Basilan province, 900 km south of Manila, the capital of the Philippines.
Bacarro said two marines who were earlier reported wounded died while being treated in a hospital in Basilan, while the 13 others were killed on the spot.
An air force MG520 attack helicopter providing air support to the ground troops crashed in the sea after it was allegedly hit by gunfire from Abu Sayyaf rebels, killing its pilot. The co-pilot survived.
Air force chief Lieutenant General Horacio Tolentino said the helicopter was not hit by the enemy but crashed after it developed vibrations.
“The pilots opted for an emergency procedure after the aircraft vibrated but it didn’t make it…to the headquarters of the marines and crashed at the waters,” he said. “It was not fired upon, it was not hit (by the enemy). That’s the feedback to me.”
Bacarro said the militants suffered an estimated 30 casualties, including one Abu Sayyaf leader responsible for the beheading and mutilating of 10 marines killed in a fire-fight last month.
Government troops have pounded rebel positions with heavy artillery and bombs from OV-10 bomber planes.
A marine battalion commander, who requested anonymity, said among those killed were four lieutenants who graduated from the country’s elite Philippine Military Academy in 2005 and 2006.
Thousands of government troops have been conducting massive military operations in Basilan to avenge the killings last month of 14 marines, 10 of whom were beheaded or mutilated in a clash in nearby Tipo-Tipo town on July 10.
The largest Muslim rebel group, Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), admitted to the killings of the 14 marines during the fighting, but they denied beheading or mutilating any of the dead.
The MILF, which is holding peace talks with the government, said the marines entered their territory without prior coordination, which is a violation of a 2003 ceasefire agreement.
Peace talks between the MILF and the government have been suspended since last September after the two sides failed to agree on how to implement a proposed Muslim homeland in the southern region of Mindanao.
The two sides are scheduled to resume negotiations on Aug 22.
Thousands of soldiers have also been deployed in the nearby Jolo Island, another stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf rebels, for a parallel offensive.