Philippine military killed on Saturday seven members of the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group, including two of its sub-commanders, in a firefight off the waters of Panglima Sugala town in Tawi-tawi, southwest Philippines, a military spokesman said.

Armed Forces public information office chief Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro said among those killed were Abu Sayyaf sub-commanders Abu Hubaida and Black Killer on whose head the United States posed 40, 000 U.S. dollars dead or alive.

The identities of five other Abu Sayyaf members were not immediately known.

Bacarro said the team of Navy Special Warfare Group, Marines and Scout Rangers caught up with the group of Hubaida and Black Killer at around 05:00 p.m. local time (0900 GMT) off the waters of a village, ensuing a 30-minute firefight.

"It's a firefight at sea. They were completely neutralized," said Bacarro. He said the seven Abu Sayyaf members were aboard a double-engine pumpboat where one M203 grenade launcher and one M16 rifle were recovered.

Bacarro could not say where the Abu Sayaf men were heading for at the time of the clash, saying details from the field were still sketchy.

Sketchy military reports reaching Manila said government troops from the Philippine Marines cornered in an island in Tawi-Tawi a group of Abu Sayyaf gunmen who fled from the multi-layer military dragnet in nearby Sulu island.

A small group of Abu Sayyaf men are operating in Tawi-tawi province, which neighbors Sulu island, a stronghold of Abu Sayyaf operatives.

Earlier Saturday, Armed Forces chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon said two Abu Sayyaf terrorists were arrested. The two were among those involved in an attack on government forces in Basilan, southern Philippines in June 2001.

In the 2001 attack, Abu Sayyaf men seized a local hospital and brought along with them some Filipino and American hostages they took from the Dos Palmas resort in Palawan, also in southwest Philippines. The terrorists escaped a military cordon around the hospital and took with them nurses as additional hostages.

Source: Xinhua