Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Thursday arrived in the southern province of Basilan for an inspection of the government troops fighting the Abu Sayyaf militants.
The president told the soldiers to keep a high morale, according to a pooled report issued by the government. Arroyo was reported to have talked to individual soldiers.
The clashes since last month have reportedly left 57 soldiers and 81 Abu Sayyaf anti-government militants dead.
Before her Basilan trip, Arroyo presided over a joint military and police command conference earlier Thursday at the Western Mindanao Command headquarters in Zamboanga City of Mindanao.
Arroyo also announced plans to increase the soldiers' combat pay, the military chief Hermogenes Esperon Jr. told reporters.
In brief remarks during the command conference, Esperon thanked the president for supporting the offensives against the Abu Sayyaf in the provinces of Sulu and Basilan.
"We will repay it with our fortified resolve to carry out our duties," he said.
Last Saturday, 15 Marines and 42 Abu Sayyaf members were reportedly killed in Ungkaya Pukan town of Basilan. An Air Force pilot was also killed when his helicopter crashed after giving air support to troops in the encounter.
In another clash one month ago, 14 Marines were killed, 10 of them beheaded, when they were attacked by Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels and Abu Sayyaf members in Al-Barkah town of Basilan.
In the neighboring island province of Sulu, four engagements between government forces and the rebels left 27 Army soldiers and over 40 rebels killed.
Source: Xinhua
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