Eight killed in Philippines

MANILA: A "fierce firefight" on Saturday killed five Philippine soldiers and three militants suspected of this week’s deadly cathedral bombing in the nation’s restive south, the military said.

The soldiers battled the Abu Sayyaf militants on the southern island of Jolo, which is the group’s stronghold as well as the site of dual bomb attack on January 27 that killed 21 people at Sunday mass.

After the cathedral bombing, President Rodrigo Duterte singled out the kidnap-for-ransom group -- which has previously been blamed for some of the Philippines’ deadliest attacks -- and ordered the military to "crush" them. "It was a fierce firefight", regional military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Gerry Besana told AFP, confirming the death toll. "It went on for nearly two hours."

Philippine officials have theorised in public that the cathedral attack was the work of at least one suicide bomber, but have also conceded they have not been able to confirm their suspicion.