ZAMBOANGA CITY, 20 December 2007 — At least eight soldiers and militants have been killed in clashes in the southern Philippine island of Basilan, the military said yesterday.

Brig. Gen. Juancho Sabban of the Philippine Marines said fighting erupted when guerrillas attacked soldiers who were holding a dialogue with villagers in the town of Ungkaya Pukan.

Sabban said six of the militants were killed and seven more were injured, while government troops suffered two deaths and five wounded.

“The Marines were having a dialogue with local villagers when the rebels opened fire on them. They started the fighting,” Sabban told the Associated Press in a phone interview.

An unidentified American civilian was earlier reported to have been injured when a helicopter delivering supplies to US troops stationed in Basilan came under fire in the island.

Ungkaya Pukan’s mayor, Joel Maturan, said the gunmen were members of the Jemaah Islamiyah-linked Abu Sayyaf group, backed by rogue members of the country’s largest Muslim separatist armed group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

“The Abu Sayyaf and the lost-command group of the MILF attacked the Marines and fighting was really intense,” Maturan said.

MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said his group was investigating allegations of their members’ involvement in the attacks.

The MILF has a strong presence in Basilan, about 850 km south of Manila and 20 km south of Zamboanga City.

He stressed that the MILF continues to honor its cease-fire agreement with the government despite the recent stalling of their peace negotiations.

The US government and the European Union have blacklisted the Abu Sayyaf — notorious for deadly bombings, beheadings and ransom kidnappings — as a terrorist organization.

Egyptian Arrested

In Cotabato City, east of Zamboanga City, security forces arrested an alleged Al-Qaeda operative from his apartment early yesterday. Military and police operatives swooped down on the apartment and arrested Mohamad Said, whose aliases Mohamad Sayed and Abu Husein, are included in the military’s so-called “terror list.”

Found in the apartment were several improvised explosive devices, including a book with Arabic texts fitted with bomb from its hollowed pages.

Security agents also seized detonating cords, alarm clocks, batteries, 60mm mortar rocket, high-explosive ammunition, 3 pounds of chemical believed to be explosives, two kilograms of ball bearings to be used as shrapnel for an IED, and a booklet of MILF combat manual. Officials said the Egyptian is being interrogated on a security base in Cotabato City, where several Turkish and Middle Eastern nationals were arrested over the past five years. Officials did not give details about the foreigner or whether he has connections with the MILF.

But MILF spokesman Kabalu denied any links with Said, whom he said is a preacher and a good man.

“He has been living in Cotabato the past years and we hear nothing bad about him. He is preaching Islam and that is what we know of this man they now tag as terrorist,” Kabalu told Arab News in a phone interview.

Little was known about Said and officials declined to give any formal statement about his arrest or if he was planning to mount terror attacks.

His arrest came several days later after the police said terrorists were planning attacks and that among those targeted are Westerners in the southern Philippines. (With input by agencies)