At least 14 people were killed and 75 wounded - including members of the security forces and civilians - in twin bombings Monday involving a suicide attacker on a southern Philippine island that is a stronghold of Islamist militants, officials said.The apparently coordinated attacks happened in Jolo in Muslim-majority Sulu, where government-backed security forces have long been fighting the Abu Sayyaf group.Seven soldiers, a police officer, and six civilians were killed in the two bombings, t

Philippine security forces were on alert Saturday for possible reprisal attacks after arresting a key leader of an Islamic State (IS)-linked militant group accused of kidnapping and beheading several foreigners.Abduljihad Susukan, a member of Abu Sayyaf, was detained in the southern city of Davao and flown to the capital Manila on Friday, where he was being held at the national police headquarters.He has been charged with 23 murders, five kidnappings and six attempted murders, a police statem

Philippine soldiers on Monday rescued a British man and his wife from Islamic State-linked jihadists nearly two months after the couple were kidnapped from their beach resort in the nation's south, authorities said.Troops recovered the pair after a firefight with gunmen from the Abu Sayyaf group on the restive southern island of Jolo, which is a stronghold of the kidnap-for-ransom gang that has been behind some of the worst attacks in the Philippines."There was a brief exchange of f

A number of apparent suicide bombings in the Philippines over the past 12 months are a worrying escalation of militancy driven by the influence of the Islamic State (IS) in Southeast Asia, security experts say. A decades-old Islamist insurgency in the southern Philippines has killed tens of thousands.But suicide attacks have been used extremely rarely, with foreign fighters blamed for the few that have been carried out.Authorities now fear however the most recent suspected suicide at

Five people including three soldiers were killed on Friday in a bombing targeting an elite army unit in the Philippines's restive south, which the Islamic State (IS) claimed was a suicide attack, authorities and experts said.The military said the kidnap-for-ransom group and IS-affiliate Abu Sayyaf was likely behind the midday blast on the island of Jolo, which also left nine other soldiers wounded.IS claimed the bombing was the work of two suicide attackers, according to tweets from Rita

A Dutch birdwatcher held by Islamic State-linked militants was killed Friday during a firefight between his kidnappers and soldiers in the southern Philippines, according to the military, which said he was shot by his captors as he tried to escape.Ewold Horn had been held since 2012 by the Abu Sayyaf kidnap-for-ransom group and was fatally wounded as soldiers fought a 90-minute gun battle with the jihadists on their stronghold, Jolo island. The Dutch foreign ministry confirmed Horn d