Philippine soldiers kill four Takfiri terrorists in south

Filipino forces have killed four more Daesh-affiliated Abu Sayyaf militants in the wake of recent heavy clashes in the country’s troubled south, a military official says.

According to Major Filemon Tan, the regional military spokesman, the killings happened on the southern island of Basilan on Sunday, a day after the Takfiri terrorist group claimed the lives of 18 Philippine soldiers and wounded at least 52 others.

"It is continuous. There will be no let-up in the operations," said Tan, adding that the government military is determined to arrest one of most senior leaders of Abu Sayyaf group.

Tan also talked about the killing of Moroccan national Mohammad Khattab in the weekend clashes.

He said Khattab was a bomb-making instructor who was trying to unify the various outlaw groups in the south.

"We pre-empted the possibility of bombing attacks. He can no longer teach his terroristic tradecraft," the spokesman said.

Hapilon has publicly pledged allegiance to the Daesh terrorist group and has been hunted for years for suspected involvement in a number of terrorist attacks.

The Abu Sayyaf group has also been blamed for a surge in kidnappings for ransom in recent weeks, including the separate abductions of 10 Indonesian tugboat crewmen near southern Tawi Tawi province and four Malaysian tugboat crew members off Malaysia's Sabah state on Borneo Island.

On Friday, an Abu Sayyaf faction released a former Italian missionary after six months of captivity in Jolo Island in southern Sulu province.

The terror group is also suspected of holding reportedly three Filipinos and 18 foreigners, including two Canadians and a Norwegian.

Established in the early 1990s, Abu Sayyaf is listed as terrorist by both the United States and the Philippines. It was once regarded as an offshoot of al-Qaeda.

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