US Helicopters Exchange Fire with Suspected Abu Sayyaf Rebels

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, May 29, 2002

US Helicopters Exchange Fire with Suspected Abu Sayyaf Rebels

Two U.S. armed helicopters clashed with a group of bandits suspected to be members of the Abu Sayyaf rebel group in the southern Philippines, a ranking local military official said on Wednesday.

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Two U.S. armed helicopters clashed with a group of bandits suspected to be members of the Abu Sayyaf rebel group in the southern Philippines, a ranking local military official said on Wednesday.

Soldiers on the helicopters exchanged fired late Monday with the gangsters on the ground when delivering supplies to military camps on the southern island of Basilan, the Philippine Star on-line news quoted Philippine Army Colonel Alexander Aleo as saying on Wednesday.

Aleo, who is the commanding officer of the Filipino troops on Basilan participating in the ongoing Philippine-U.S. military exercises, said there were no reports of any causalities on the U.S. side.

About 10 gunmen opened fire at the HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopters as the latter were flying over Tuburan town in Basilan, and the American soldiers on board the aircraft immediately returned fire.

It was the first time for the U.S. troops in Basilan to fight directly against suspected members of the Abu Sayyaf which is still holding hostage American missionary couple Martin and GraciaBurnham, and a Filipina nurse Ediborah Yap.

Filipino soldiers on the ground were sent off to pursue the bandits shortly after the clash but there was no reports on whether any of the gunmen were captured.

The Abu Sayyaf rebel group is also allegedly linked to the al-Qaeda terror network of Osama bin Laden, suspected mastermind of the September 11 attacks in the U.S. A sect of the group is now hiding with the three hostages in the jungles on Basilan.

Over 1,000 U.S. soldiers are deployed in the southern Philippines including 160 special troops and 340 military engineers on Basilan in a series of military exercises targeting the Abu Sayyaf bandits. The exercises are scheduled to end in July.

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