Abu Sayyaf Gunmen Kill 21 in Philippines

Twenty one people were killed and several injured in the Sulu province of southern Philippines, in an attack by the Abu Sayyaf gunmen on Monday, according to military officials.

The dead include women and children who were travelling to visit relatives to celebrate the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

Around 50 Abu Sayyaf militants carried out the attack near the Talipao town in the Muslim dominated province of Sulu, revealed marine Brig. General Martin Pinto., reports the Associated Press.

The military officials believe the attack was a result of some clan dispute among the militants and the villagers.  

Those attacked included four members of a civilian task force called the Barangay Police Action Team that had been helping the military fight the group.

Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Gov. Mujiv Hataman, strongly condemned the attack and called it a "senseless act, especially that it happened on the day Muslims' culmination of the end of the month-long fast and celebrate the Eid'l Fitr," reports the Philstar.com

The Abu Sayyaf  was formed in the early 1990s  and is now made up of around hundreds of  insurgents which survive in the jungles  on guerrilla warfare and kidnappings for ransom.

At present, it has 10 hostages, including two German tourists, one Dutch, a Swiss, both kidnapped two years ago, reports the Associated Press.

The insurgents initially came together to demand  a large autonomous region for the Muslims in the south in the predominantly Catholic country. The government recently signed a peace deal with the main group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front,  but some  break off factions still operate in the Sulu province.