Two soldiers, both former Muslim rebels, were killed in a clash with Abu Sayyaf gunmen in Tuburan town in Basilan. The military said the bodies were airlifted late on Thursday afternoon, hours after their unit clashed with the Abu Sayyaf which is holding 21 hostages, including two Americans, in Upper Sinangcapan village.

The soldiers, assigned with the Fifth Infantry Battalion, joined the military in 1998. "The rebels suffered a still undetermined number of casualties," said the military, but failed to retrieve the bodies of the Abu Sayyaf gunmen that were taken by fleeing guerrillas.

A member of the army-led militia unit was wounded in a clash with Abu Sayyaf rebels in Sulu, near Basilan, where military operations began on Wednesday. On Wednesday, militias fought off a group of 20 Abu Sayyaf gunmen under Commander Abu Pula, a notorious rebel leader who has a five million peso reward on his head.

Abu Pula is one of rebel leaders holding Filipino diving instructor Roland Ullah, who was part of 21 mostly foreigners abducted from a Malaysian resort in April 2000. All the hostages except Ullah were released after negotiators paid an estimated $20 millions in ransom.

The Abu Sayyaf guerrillas attacked patrolling militias in the village of Dapah in Maimbung town shortly before 5 p.m, resulting in a 30-minute gun-battle and the wounding of a militiaman. Guerrillas broke into smaller groups and retreated deeper into the jungle when soldiers from the 26th Special Forces arrived.

Some 5,000 soldiers engaged the Abu Sayyaf in sporadic fighting in Basilan where Abu Sayyaf leader Khadaffy Janjalani and Abu Sayyaf spokesman Abu Sabaya brought 21 hostages who were abducted from Dos Palmas resort in Palawan last month.