(UPDATE) 3 Abu Sayyaf militants killed in Basilan clash

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Xinhua) - Three Abu Sayyaf militants were killed after a fight with government troops in the southern Philippines this morning, the military said.

The fight started about 7 a.m. in the Basilan province, a southern island province, with Joint Task Group Basilan defeating militants led by Abu Sayyaf leaders Furuji Indama and Nurhassan Jamiri three hours later.

Two soldiers were wounded and three militants killed in the fight, according to Reynaldo Yoma, commander of the Joint Task Force Zambasulta.

According to military source, pursuit continued as the militants retreated to the forest area of Tipo-Tipo town, where 14 Philippine Marines were beheaded in 2007.

The 400-strong Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), founded in the early 1990s by Islamic extremists, is a violent Muslim terrorist group operating in the southern Philippines. The ASG is notorious for a series of kidnappings, bombings and even beheadings in southern Philippines over the past decades.  

The ASG operates mainly in Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi Provinces in the Sulu Archipelago and has a presence on Mindanao.