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3 soldiers killed in car crash in southern Philippines

Xinhua, January 6, 2017 Adjust font size:

Three soldiers were killed and 22 others injured when a military truck crashed on Friday in a remote town in Sulu, an island province in southwest Philippines, a spokesman for the Philippine Army said.

Maj. Filemon Tan, spokesman of the military's Western Mindanao Command, blamed the accident on slippery road. He said the truck was part of a nine-car military convoy that was transporting troops to an undisclosed village to fight Muslim militants.

"The convoy of cars was headed to an operational area," Tan said in a statement sent to the media. He said that break of the truck malfunctioned, causing the vehicle to lose its balance and slipped off the road.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the military to crush the Abu Syayf militants which is notorious for criminal and terror activities in the southern Philippines, including bombings, murder and kidnap for ransom.

The military said the Abu Sayyaf group is still holding at least 20 more foreign and Filipino kidnap victims believed to be in Sulu. Endit