Philippines says troops seize rebel camp in south

MANILA, Aug 5 (Reuters) Soldiers hunting leading Muslim militants in the southern Philippines have overrun their jungle camp but the rebels escaped, the military today said.

The camp, near the town of Indanan on the southern island of Jolo, was believed to have been used for training in bomb-making by members of Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiah (JI).

''The explosive-making facility overrun by the ground troops is said to be the place where the JI militants teach the Abu Sayyaf members how to build and create improvised explosive devices,'' Brigadier-General Alexander Aleo, commander of military forces on Jolo, said in a statement.

The military said the camp, in the foothills of Mount Bud Kapok, contained fortified bunkers and ground shelters.

Philippine soldiers, backed by US intelligence and equipment, have killed 12 Abu Sayyaf members since fighting in Jolo began yesterday, Army Major Mabini Abduhadi told a news conference in Zamboanga City in southern Philippines.

He said the bodies of five of the dead had been recovered.

Yesterday, Aleo said six Abu Sayyaf members were wounded, seven captured in ground and air assaults on Jolo since Tuesday, with seven soldiers wounded. Hundreds of villagers have fled the fighting.

Philippine security forces are trying to stop Abu Sayyaf and members of Jemaah Islamiah, al Qaeda's regional affiliate, from using the southern islands as bases to train and plot attacks in Southeast Asia.

Abu Sayyaf, the smallest of four Muslim rebel groups in the mainly Roman Catholic country with about 400 members, is blamed for kidnappings and bombings, including a blast on a ferry near Manila in February 2004 that killed more than 100 people.

The soldiers are trying to capture or kill Abu Sayyaf leader Khaddafy Janjalani and Indonesians Umar Patek and Dulmatin, the principal suspects in the October 2002 bombings on the Indonesian resort island of Bali.

Despite numerous offensives on Jolo, including one with 5,000 troops in 2004, Abu Sayyaf leaders and their foreign colleagues have eluded capture.

Muslim separatists in the southern Philippines have been seeking greater independence since the 1960s in a conflict that has cost more than 120,000 lives and stunted development.

REUTERS SY RK1818