Zamboanga City, Philippines - A Marine was killed and another injured in a clash with Muslim militants in the southern Philippines, a military spokesman said Tuesday. The firefight erupted on Monday in Indanan town on Jolo island, 1,000 kilometres south of Manila, when Muslim Abu Sayyaf rebels opened fire at a group of Marines.
Major David Hontiveros, a regional armed forces spokesman, said the Marines were clearing the way for military engineers to repair a bridge in the village of Bato-Bato when they were attacked.
"Apparently, the bandits did not want the people to benefit from the bridge so they prevented our engineers from reparing it," he said.
Hontiveros said the Abu Sayyaf suffered an "undetermined number of casualties" in the clash.
Last week, two US soldiers and a Filipino Marine were killed in a landmine attack by Abu Sayyaf rebels in the nearby village of Kagay also in Indanan.
The American troops were overseeing the construction of various projects in the village, including school buildings and roads.
The US military pulled out the American forces working on the project following the attack.
Jolo island is a stronghold of al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf rebels who have been the subject of US-backed counter-terrorism operations by the Philippine military.
The Abu Sayyaf has been blamed for some of the worst terrorist attacks in the Philippines, as well as high-profile kidnappings-for-ransom involving foreign hostages.
