Moro Conflict

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."

Unknown persons late on Tuesday threw an explosive device at the Sasa Hotel in Kosovska Mitrovica.

Nobody was injured during the incident, but the blast caused material 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.

Nearly 160 inmates escaped after suspected Muslim rebels attacked a jail in the southern Philippines before dawn on Jan. 4, and at least six people were shot dead as pursuing government forces traded fire with gunmen, officials said.

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.

The Philippines' largest rebel group retired nearly 150 guerillas and handed over 75 arms to a decommissioning body headed by Turkish Ambassador Haydar Berk in order to encourage parliament to pass a proposed law giving minority Muslims self-rule. 

The Philippines' largest rebel group retired nearly 150 guerrillas and handed over 75 firearms for decommissioning June 16 to encourage parliament to pass a proposed law giving minority Muslims self-rule.

The Philippines' most wanted Islamist militant, whose death at the weekend could boost peace efforts in the country's south, was killed by his own bodyguards in pursuit of a bounty offered by the United States, the head of the military said on May 4.