2 Soldiers Die In Jolo Ambush

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Zamboanga Journal / 03 Jul) Unidentified gunmen killed two government soldiers in an ambush in the strife-torn southern Filipino island of Jolo, where military forces were fighting members of the militant Abu Sayyaf group, officials said Monday.

Officials said gunmen attacked the two soldiers near the village of Anuling in Patikul town. The soldiers were riding on a motorcycle when gunmen opened fire on them.

Troops from a nearby detachment had to seal the area to be able to recover the bodies of the slain soldiers. No group claimed responsibility for the attack and officials would not say if the Abu Sayyaf was involved in the ambush or not.

"Police and military are still investigating the ambush. There is operation in the area," Captain Jose Ritche Pabilonia, a spokesman for the military's Southern Command, told reporters in Zamboanga City.

Last week, soldiers also disarmed powerful homemade bomb planted near a government school in Jolo's Kalingalang Kaluang town. The bomb was planted just 50 meters outside the Pitogo Elementary School, the military said.

The military have blamed the Abu Sayyaf group for the spate of killings, bombings and kidnappings on the island, about 950 km south of Manila.

The United States has offered as much as $5 million bounty for known Abu Sayyaf commanders, including its chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani, and Manila also put up P100 million bounties for the capture of the group's leaders and their members dead or alive.

The US included the group on its list of foreign terrorist organizations alongside with the al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiya.