Philippines pursues militants amid hunt for kidnapped priest

BASILAN (AFP) - Philippine forces on Thursday mounted an offensive against Islamic militants who killed 14 marines despite concern the action may damage efforts to rescue a kidnapped Italian priest.

The marine unit was ambushed Tuesday in Tipo-tipo town on Basilan Island as it followed a tip that Father Giancarlo Bossi, abducted from his parish on June 10, was being held in the area.

Ten of the slain marines were beheaded, the military said. The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which denies it was behind the beheadings, said four of its members were also killed in the clash.

"You can be very sure our forces on the ground will take appropriate action," said Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, President Gloria Arroyo's chief aide.

"The beheading was really outrageous but we will have to see how our negotiators handle that. It is not for me to dictate to them," he told reporters.

The MILF, which has a three year-old truce in place as it negotiates peace with the government, says its forces attacked the marines after they entered MILF territory without advance notice.

Government troops would pursue the attackers while a joint government-MILF ceasefire monitoring committee would look into the ambush, Ermita said.

Regional military commander Lieutenant General Eugenio Cedo said the armed forces would continue their hunt for Bossi in Basilan island despite the potential for more clashes with the MILF.

"We will continue the search for Bossi. There is a high probability that kidnapped priest was brought to Basilan," he said.

He asserted that in past ceasefire agreements, the government had never recognised any MILF territory in Basilan.

The government believes the attackers were a mix of the MILF and Abu Sayyaf, an Islamic extremist group known to have ties with Al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah terror networks.

The government initially said Bossi he had been kidnapped by renegade MILF members.

The local marine commander, Colonel Ramiro Alivio maintained that Bossi was in the area of the deadly ambush.

"The MILF has to face the music," Alivio said.

MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said in a television interview that the marines "intruded into the area of the MILF without prior notice which is in violation of the existing ceasefire implementing guidelines."

The joint ceasefire committee would investigate as to which side fired first, he added.

Kabalu was a loss as to why the marines were beheaded, insisting the MILF did not engage in such practices. But he insisted that the Abu Sayyaf were not involved in the battle.

Footage of the ambush, taken by a GMA television news crew, showed one of the marine trucks stuck in the mud as it headed back to barracks.

Gunfire soon rang out sending the television crew scrambling for cover.

The soldiers tried to return fire with a mortar but many of the shells failed to go off.