Manila says Abu Sayyaf leader may be wounded in clash

MANILA, Jan 16 (Reuters) Philippine troops overran a camp of Abu Sayyaf militants on a remote island in the southwest today, killing at least one fighter and possibly wounding one of the top leaders of the Islamic group, the military said.

''The troops believe Abu Sulaiman was wounded,'' military spokesman Lt Col Bartolome Bacarro said.

Abu Sulaiman is one of the top five leaders of the Abu Sayyaf militant group which is fighting for a separate Muslim homeland in the south of the the largely Catholic Philippines.

The United States has linked the group with the al Qaeda.

At least 60 militants were in the camp and they fled after the battle leaving behind explosives and ammunition, the Philippine military said.

Two soldiers were wounded in the fighting.

Sulaiman is among five leaders of the Abu Sayyaf wanted by the United States for the kidnapping of three of its citizens and 17 Filipino tourists from the Dos Palmas resort on Palawan island in May 2001.

Sulaiman is also believed to be involved in the worst attack in the Philippines, the bombing of a passenger ferry off Manila Bay in 2004 that killed more than 100 people.

''The raid was the result of the information provided by the civilians in the area who are fed up with the extortion and other criminal activities perpetrated by the Abu Sayyaf,'' the military statement said.

REUTERS SP MIR RAI1859