ZAMBOANGA CITY: At least five members of the Abu Sayyaf Group gunmen were killed and two soldiers were wounded in fierce clashes on Wednesday in Zamboanga Sibugay province in southern Philippines, officials said.

Officials said the fighting erupted in the village of President Roxas in the town of RT Lim where security forces caught up with a group of gunmen escaping a military operation from the nearby town of Alicia where a gunman had been killed and two soldiers and three civilians wounded in the battle in La Paz village.