Sixteen people were also wounded in the pre-dawn attack in a village in Basilan province, 900km south of Manila, said Chief Inspector Tara Leah Cuyco, a regional police spokeswoman. About 100 gunmen believed to be Abu Sayyaf terrorists swooped down on the village of Tubigan, indiscriminately firing their guns, Cuyco said.
They also set fire to at least four houses and a day-care centre, she added. Soldiers have been dispatched to hunt down the attackers, said Colonel Juvymax Uy, a commander of a military anti-terrorism task forces in the province.
Uy said the attack must have been in retaliation for the killing of three Abu Sayyaf militants in a military offensive during the weekend, which led to the capture of two encampments of the terrorists.
Troops also rescued on Sunday a Vietnamese cargo vessel crew member held captive for nine months by the Abu Sayyaf on an island town of Basilan, said Ensign Jesca May Viduya, a regional military spokeswoman.
The hostage, identified as Do Trung Huige, was unharmed in the rescue operation and was immediately brought to hospital for a check-up, Viduya said. Huige was among six Vietnamese crew members of the cargo vessel MV Royale who were seized in November near Basilan. Two of the hostages were found beheaded In July, while another was rescued in June.
Four Vietnamese hostages — two crew members from MV Royale and two from another cargo vessel — are among 19 hostages still being held captive by the Abu Sayyaf in Basilan and nearby Jolo island. Abu Sayyaf is one of the most notorious and violent militant group in the southern Philippines. It has been blamed for some of the worst terrorist attacks in the country, beheading of hostages and high-profile kidnappings.
One of its leaders, Isnilon Hapilon, has been identified as the head of IS-allied militants fighting government troops in Marawi City since May 23. That fighting has left nearly 800 people dead.
