First U.S. Role In Philippines

U.S. military helicopters evacuated three wounded Filipino soldiers after a clash with Muslim extremists on a remote southern island that left one Filipino dead, officials said Saturday.

It was the first known time that U.S. military advisers in the southern Philippines had a role, even indirect, in the Philippines' war with Abu Sayyaf guerrillas who have been linked to the international al-Qaida network.

Maj. Noel Detoyato, a Philippine military spokesman, said two U.S. Pave Hawk helicopters deployed to the war-torn island of Basilan late Friday after Abu Sayyaf guerrillas ambushed a Philippine army patrol, killing one soldier and wounding three. The Pave Hawks are a version of the popular Army Blackhawks.

The fighting had apparently subsided by the time the helicopters reached the site from their temporary base in the nearby city of Zamboanga.

A U.S. military spokeswoman confirmed the evacuation but refused to elaborate.

Detoyato said the Filipinos were ambushed as they marched to establish a forward base in the northwest of the island which is home to about 60 guerrillas who hold two Americans and a Filipina hostage.

About 660 U.S. soldiers are in the southern Philippines on a mission to train Philippine troops to better fight the rebels and rescue Wichita, Kansas, couple Martin and Gracia Burnham and Filipina nurse Ediborah Yap. They have been held hostage for more than nine months.