A Philippine army commander says two al-Qaida-linked gunmen have been killed in a clash with soldiers on a southern island province where suspected militants bombed a lodging house last week.
Basilan provincial military commander Col. Alex Macario told DZBB radio in Manila that army Scout Rangers encountered about 15 Abu Sayyaf gunmen in a remote village of Al Barka township early Saturday. He said the clash also wounded three soldiers.
No one was injured last week when a homemade bomb destroyed a lodging house in Lamitan township, north of Al Barka.
Macario has said intelligence reports indicate that Abu Sayyaf has been planning to bomb a church, small hotels and gas stations on Basilan, about 550 miles (880 kilometers) south of Mainla.
