Abu Sayyaf

At least 18 people were killed when two bombs hit a church on a southern Philippine island that is a stronghold of Islamist militants, the military said Sunday, days after voters backed the creation of a new Muslim autonomous region, reports AFP. 

Philippine troops engaged Islamic State-linked militants in pitched clashes on Thursday around the southern city of Marawi as the military deployed tanks to secure vital installations in a battle that has become a major test for President Rodrigo Duterte’s government.

Terrorists are planning to kidnap foreigners in tourist hotspots across the central and western Philippines, Western governments said yesterday following a foiled abduction attempt by Islamic militants a month ago.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he has ordered his troops to bomb extremists who flee with their captives in a bid to stop a wave of kidnappings at sea, calling the loss of civilian lives in such an attack "collateral damage."

The number of maritime kidnappings hit a ten-year high in 2016, with waters off the southern Philippines becoming increasingly dangerous, the International Maritime Bureau said Jan. 10.

While the overall number of pirate attacks has declined in recent years, the IMB said 62 people worldwide were kidnapped for ransom at sea last year compared to only 19 in 2015 and nine in 2014.

Philippine soldiers battled a group of about 120 Muslim rebels linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in a ten-hour assault on a southern island that killed 23 people, an army spokesman said on April 10.

Soldiers captured the Abu Sayyaf camp in a forested area on the southern island of Basilan but an improvised explosive device left behind by the rebels, injured 12 soldiers on Dec. 20, said Major Filemon Tan.

"After we captured the camp, they were clearing the bunkers when the IED exploded," he told AFP.

The United States on August 6 handed over to Iraqi authorities the widow of a senior Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) leader who had been detained by US forces since May, the Pentagon announced.

U.S. special operations forces have carried out a raid inside Syria, killing a man identified as a senior Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) leader who helped direct the group's oil, gas and financial operations, the Pentagon and White House said on May 16.

The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) which controls a large swath of Syria and Iraq has received between $35 million and $45 million in ransom payments in the past year, a U.N. expert monitoring sanctions against al-Qaida said Nov. 24.