Philippine troops killed seven militants, believed to be sheltering a Malaysian bomb expert, in a pre-dawn assault on Sunday, a Marine general said. A soldier was also wounded during an amphibious assault on a row of fortified stilt houses on the island of Siasi, near the main island of Jolo, Brigadier-General Rustico told reporters as troops continued to scour the area.
"We caught them by surprise when our troops approached the militants' hideout from the sea," Guerrero told reporters, adding that 15 assault rifles and bomb-making materials were seized during the raid. "We have information that Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan, was hiding with the Abu Sayyaf group on the island, but we are not sure whether he was there during the raid. We're still trying to identify the seven bodies we recovered," Guerrero said, adding two of the dead militants were women.
Philippine security officials say Marwan has been on the US State Department watchlist for a series of bomb attacks in the southern Philippines since 2006. He was believed to have trained Muslim rebels in the south in making crude bombs.