Philippine troops, backed by airstrikes and artillery fire, killed 11 suspected members of Sunni Extremist militias near a hinterland village in the country\u2019s south in one of the military\u2019s bloodiest anti-insurgency offensives this year, the Associated Press reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The military launched the offensive Friday after receiving intelligence about the whereabouts of suspected leaders and armed followers of the Dawla Islamiyah and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, or the BIFF, groups near the village of Tuwayan in southern Datu Hofer town in Maguindanao province, military officials confirmed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to a regional military official, government forces recovered 11 bodies of suspected militants after more than three hours of fighting. This came after 13 armed militants belonging to the Dawla Islamiyah surrendered with their firearms to the military in the south.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Philippine troops, backed by airstrikes and artillery fire, killed 11 suspected members of Sunni Extremist militias near a hinterland village in the country\u2019s south in one of the military\u2019s bloodiest anti-insurgency offensives this year, the Associated Press reported. The military launched the offensive Friday after receiving intelligence about the whereabouts of suspected leaders and armed …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":98915,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_108372464460192_245495985553329":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[5919],"class_list":["post-98914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-militant-sunni-extremists-killed-in-philippine"],"yoast_head":"\n