Eight killed in southern Philippine clash between gov't troops, ASG

A report from the 11th infantry division of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said, a platoon of soldiers were doing community work in a village of Patikul town when the attack occurred around 5:35 p.m. local time on Saturday.

Civilians were caught in a 30-minute firefight that broke out between the government troops and terrorists, the report said.

Among the dead were a one-year-old baby and a 12-year-old, the report said. Six terrorists were also killed in the clash, it added.

The report said five soldiers, two civilians and seven terrorists were wounded in the fighting.

Clashes between the ASG terrorists and government security forces erupt almost every day in the remote southernmost Sulu and Basilan Island provinces, a known Abu Sayyaf lair.

The AFP considers the ASG as a collection of armed criminals or bandits preying on civilians and foreign nationals.

The group gained notice in southern Philippines in the early 1990s, with demands for an Islamic state. It acquired worldwide notoriety with a series of kidnappings and beheadings.

The Duterte government has formed an entire army division to hunt down the militants who were blamed for a series of kidnapping and bombings in the southern region, including the Jan. 27 twin bombings in a church in Jolo city, Sulu province that killed more than 20 people and injured more than 100.