ZAMBOANGA, Oct 12: Philippine Muslim rebels linked to the Al Qaeda network killed 11 soldiers and wounded 25 others on Saturday in fierce fighting in the jungles of southern Jolo island, military officials said.

The gunbattle broke out in the Patikul hills as marines pursued Abu Sayyaf guerillas holding three Indonesian seamen and four Filipina evangelists hostage. “The marines were badly outnumbered and the Abu Sayyaf were firing from a vantage position,” an army officer said.

An initial military report said seven soldiers were killed but senior military sources later said the death toll on the government side had risen to 11.

“The fighting is a result of our effort to rescue the victims,” said Philippine Armed Forces Southern Chief Lt Gen Ernesto Carolina, referring to the hostages.

“We cannot say yet how many (casualties) from the enemy side were inflicted. But the ground forces were sure that the bandits suffered a bigger number.”

The United States has linked the Abu Sayyaf to the Al Qaeda group.

The Abu Sayyaf says it is fighting for a Muslim homeland in the south of the mainly Roman Catholic Philippines.

The three Indonesian seamen were abducted in June from a Singaporean-owned tugboat passing off Jolo, a jungle-clad, largely Muslim island regarded as an Abu Sayyaf stronghold. The four women evangelists were kidnapped in August.

In June this year, the military rescued American missionary Gracia Burnham from more than a year of captivity by the Abu Sayyaf, but her husband and a Filipina nurse also held hostage were killed in the fighting.

An American tourist held hostage hostage with the Burnhams, Guillermo Sobero, was beheaded by the group last year.

In July, the Philippines and the United States concluded joint military exercises aimed at training Philippine troops to eliminate the Abu Sayyaf.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo earlier said the two countries would hold another round of joint military exercises in May as a follow-up.—Reuters