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ZAMBOANGA, Philippines : Police commandos clashed with Al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf militants in the southern Philippines on Sunday, killing at least three and wounding several others, they said.
National police spokesman Agrimero Cruz said Special Action Force commandos caught up with an Abu Sayyaf unit believed to be aiding foreign militants from the Jemaah Islamiyah group on Jolo island, triggering the fighting.
He said intelligence reports suggested that the Abu Sayyaf gunmen were protecting Marwan, a Malaysian-born member of the JI believed to be responsible for honing the Abu Sayyaf's bombing techniques.
"They were able to neutralise (kill) Gafur and two other unidentified (Abu Sayyaf) members," Cruz said, referring to Gafur Jumdail.
There was no sign of Marwan, however, during the assault.
Gafur Jumdail was the brother of Abu Jumdail, one of the Abu Sayyaf's top operatives who has a 100,000-dollar bounty put on his head by the United States.
Apart from Jumdail and the two others who were killed, several others were believed wounded but managed to escape, according to the provincial police chief, Senior Superintendent Joseph Ramac said.
Jumdail's Abu Sayyaf unit was believed to be responsible for the abduction of a local television news crew in 2008, who were freed days after reportedly paying a ransom.
The group was also blamed for last year's ambush on a police convoy in which the island's police chief and several others died.
The Abu Sayyaf is a small gang of Islamic militants blamed for the country's worst terrorist attacks, including a ferry bombing that left over 100 dead in Manila Bay in 2004.
It is also on the US government's list of wanted foreign terrorist organisations, after two Americans seized along with a group of tourists in 2002 were killed in captivity.
Foreign and Filipino defence analysts have said that the JI has in recent years infiltrated the ranks of the Abu Sayyaf, and that up to 30 foreign militants trained with the group until last year.
Apart from Marwan, top JI militants Dulmatin and Umar Patek were also believed have trained with the Abu Sayyaf previously.
Both Indonesian men were wanted for the 2002 bomb attacks in the resort island of Bali that left over 200 dead.
Dulmatin was killed by Indonesian police in March, but Patek remains at large in the southern Philippines. - AFP/ms
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