Seven marines and seven Abu Sayyaf fighters were killed in the gunbattle, which raged for an hour Saturday in a sparsely populated village near coastal Patikul town in Sulu province. Six marines and about 10 gunmen were wounded, marine Col. Jose Cenabre said.

Government troops backed by assault helicopters were hunting down the fleeing militants, who were believed to be led by Jul-Aswan Sawadjaan, an Abu Sayyaf commander accused in the kidnappings of a Jordanian journalist and two European bird watchers who are still being held by the militants.

One of Sawadjaan's sons and a minor Abu Sayyaf commander are believed to have been killed in the firefight, said Cenabre, who heads security forces in Sulu. He said the marines initially had difficulty returning fire because the dozens of militants took cover near a row of houses.

The flag-draped caskets of the slain marines were flown to Manila on Sunday and given military honors at an air force base amid a downpour, the latest military casualties in a battle against Muslim extremists that has dragged on for about two decades. Marine commandant Brig. Gen. Romeo Tanalgo said the battle would continue despite the setback.

The firefight was part of a new military offensive that started last week and is aimed at rescuing the three foreign captives, who were abducted last year, along with three Filipinos kidnapped separately by the militants in recent weeks, he said.

Among the Filipino captives was a marine's wife who worked in a Sulu provincial hospital and was kidnapped two weeks ago.

Although a large number of marines and policemen are involved in the offensive, only small units have been deployed to hunt down the Abu Sayyaf in two jungle encampments in Sulu, Cenabre said without providing details of the operation. U.S. forces were providing intelligence but were not involved in actual combat, he said.

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