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Government forces, bandits clash in central Philippines

Xinhua, April 11, 2017 Adjust font size:

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said on Tuesday that a clash broke out between government forces and extremists in the central Philippines.

Eduardo Ano, the AFP's chief of staff, said in a statement that government troops and police "encountered a group of heavily armed lawless elements in Bohol" around 7 a.m. Tuesday.

Ano said that the military launched the "security operation" in the wake of the intelligence reports that at least 10 armed men aboard three pump boats were sighted on the riverside of that village.

"The information came for alert residents and other citizens," Ano said.

Ano said that the heavily-armed group has been "cornered in an isolated" area of the village.

"Additional forces from the Army, Air Force and the Navy are now onsite to assist engaged AFP personnel and law enforces," Ano said, adding that "firefight is still ongoing."

Meantime, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Ronal dela Rosa confirmed that a joint military and police operation were launched Tuesday to thwart the attack in central Philippine Visayas region.

He said that at least one soldier had been killed so far and two others were wounded from the government forces.

He said that the bandits are holed up in at least three houses in the village.

The U.S. Embassy and the Australian Embassy in Manila warned over the weekend issued its respective citizens to be careful, adding the embassies have received "unsubstantiated yet credible information that terrorists may attempt kidnappings in central Visayas, which include both Cebu and Bohol provinces."

Dela Rosa said on Monday that the PNP has indeed received information of a potential terrorist threat in the central Philippines.

In a news conference at the main police headquarters, Dela Rosa said that the police has been alerted although it has yet to receive details of the threat.

The military has been fighting the Abu Sayyaf rebels since 2000.

Abu Sayyaf is one of the smallest and most violent jihadist groups operating in the southern Philippines notorious for kidnappings, bombings and attacking civilians and the army.

The group, numbering about 500, has been sowing terror in the southern Philippine region since the early 1990s. Endit