ZAMBOANGA--Four Abu Sayyaf bandits were killed in a clash with navy troops escorting a commercial trawler off the coast of the southern Philippine city of Zamboanga, the military said Sunday.

The bandits were in a motor boat and attacked the commercial trawler late Friday, triggering a high-seas clash that left four of them dead, an officer said.

"There is a heightened security in the seas to protect fishing boats from pirates and Abu Sayyaf rebels," military southern command spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Fredesvindo Covarrubias said.

Covarrubias said the military had received reports that the Abu Sayyaf were planning more attacks on vessels in the southern Philippines.

"We are getting information from the fishermen themselves and the military validates these reports, and then we take actions to preempt these things from happening," he said.

The bandits last year seized four Indonesian seamen after boarding their vessel near the southern island of Basilan. They were taken to the nearby island of Jolo, where one of them escaped and the other three were killed.

The Abu Sayyaf is a small group of Islamic militants tagged a terrorist group by Manila and Washington. The militants are wanted for the murders of two US hostages seized in 2001 as well as for a spate of bombings and attacks.

17/08/2003

Bron : www.inq7.net

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