DHAKA: A military assault on Islamic militants in the southern Philippines entered its fifth day on Saturday, with the toll rising to 24 guerrillas and two soldiers dead.

Officials said, reports The Straits Times.

Ten Abu Sayyaf militants were killed in a two-hour clash on Friday after the army pounded their jungle lair on Jolo island with artillery and helicopter gunships, said Colonel Alan Arrojado, who is leading the assault. Another 14 rebels and two troops had been killed since the fighting erupted on Tuesday, he said.

Battles were raging in the mountainous and thickly forested villages of Patikul town, an area controlled by Abu Sayyaf, a group of a few hundred gunmen with links to the Al-Qaeda network.

The militants were reportedly moving with three Malaysian Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) members who were providing them with bomb-making training, military spokesman Colonel Restituto Padilla told the media.

‘This (assault) will not stop until we put an end to the Abu Sayyaf,’ Col Padilla said. The Malaysians have been ‘monitored for some time’, he added.

BDST: 2056 HRS, FEB 28, 2015