Marine killed, 9 others hurt in Sulu attack

A Marine lieutenant was killed while nine others were hurt on Thursday in an attack believed to be carried out by Abu Sayyaf bandits in the southern Philippine province of Sulu, a military official said. Navy spokesman Lt. Col. Edgard Arevalo said unidentified group of armed men swooped down on the command post of the 311th Company of the 11th Marine Battalion Landing Team in Barangay Bitan-ag in Panamao at about 11:10 a.m. Arevalo said the troops fought back, killing three of the attackers whose bodies were found – along with a 90mm Recoiless Rifle with four live ammunition, two M16 rifles and a Garand rifle – after the encounter. “The Navy leadership grieves the loss of an officer and the wounding of nine other enlisted Marines," he said. Arevalo did not identify the slain Marine soldiers pending notification of their families. He said it was “more probable" that the attackers were members of the Abu Sayyaf, which is being blamed for last Tuesday’s landmine blast in Indanan town that killed two American troops and a Filipino soldier. The Philippine military said the US soldiers were supervising the conduct of humanitarian projects in the area and were not engaged in actual combat operations. The blast however prompted US authorities to pull out their forces in Barangay Kagay in Indanan. The Abu Sayyaf, listed as a terrorist group by the US government, has links with Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda terrorist network. - GMANews.TV