18 Filipino soldiers killed in daylong clash with militants

At least 18 Philippine soldiers were killed in fierce daylong fighting with Abu Sayyaf extremists in the country's volatile south today in the largest single-day combat loss by the government so far this year, officials said.
At least 52 other soldiers were wounded in the clashes with the Abu Sayyaf and its allied gunmen in the hinterlands bordering Tipo Tipo and Al-Barka towns on Basilan island, three military officials told The Associated Press.
The three senior officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to publicly discuss details of the clashes.
It's the largest single-day combat loss by government forces this year in the south, where the military has been battling Muslim separatist rebels and extremists, and Marxist guerrillas.

The large combat losses were reported as the Philippines marked the Day of Valor to remember Filipino veterans who perished in World War II.
The Abu Sayyaf was founded in 1991 in Basilan, about 880 kilometers (550 miles) south of Manila. With an unwieldy collective of preachers and outlaws, it vowed to wage jihad, or holy war, but lost its key leaders early in combat, sending it on a violent path of extremism and criminality.
The United States and the Philippines have separately blacklisted the Abu Sayyaf as a terrorist organization for deadly bombings, extortion, kidnappings for ransom and beheadings of locals and foreigners, including Christian missionaries in the south. More than a decade of U.S.-backed Philippine offensives have weakened the Abu Sayyaf, but it remains a key security threat.