At least five followers of a renegade Muslim regional governor were killed and nine soldiers wounded in a clash in the southern Philippines, the military said Saturday. Soldiers pursuing rebels belonging to a faction of the Moro National Liberation Front led by Nur Misuari stormed a rebel camp Friday in Patikul town on Jolo island, triggering a four-hour gunbattle, said Col. Fredesvindo Covarrubias, a spokesman for the military's Southern Command.
Covarrubias said intercepted rebel radio messages indicated the guerrillas suffered more casualties. They were forced to break up into smaller groups and flee deeper into the jungle where troops pursued them Saturday, he said.

He also said Misuari's loyalist forces have merged with the Muslim extremist Abu Sayyaf group, which is holding an American missionary couple and a Filipino nurse on Basilan island near Zamboanga. Bureau Report