Government casualties in past battles

July 28, 2011. Five of the seven Marines, who were killed during a battle with Abu Sayyaf bandits in Sulu, were beheaded. Twenty-five other Marines were wounded.

Dec. 14, 2010. Two days before the Christmas cease-fire, 10 Army soldiers were killed in an encounter with communist rebels in Northern Samar. A 9-year-old boy was killed in the crossfire, while two others were wounded.

Aug. 12, 2009. Twenty-three soldiers, including two junior officers, were killed in a gun battle in Zamboanga, the military’s worst loss in a single engagement with the Abu Sayyaf.

Aug. 18, 2007. Fifteen Marines died while attempting to take over a major encampment of the Abu Sayyaf in Basilan. After almost nine hours of close combat, the Abu Sayyaf camp in Silangkum, Unkaya Pukan, was taken by government forces.

Aug. 9, 2007. Twenty-six soldiers were killed in clashes with Moro guerrillas in Sulu. The fatalities included 10 soldiers killed during an ambush in Maimbung, while 15 more soldiers were killed in a separate gun battle hours later. The military said the attackers included Abu Sayyaf bandits and rogue elements within the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).

July 10, 2007. Fourteen Marines were killed, 10 of them beheaded, in Al-Barka, Basilan, after being ambushed by some 400 Abu Sayyaf bandits and MILF guerrillas while searching for kidnapped Italian priest Giancarlo Bossi.

Feb. 7, 2005. Followers of MNLF leader Nur Misuari attacked Army posts in Panamao, Sulu. Other rebels ambushed a military reinforcement in Patikul, killing 13 Marines and wounding 14 others. Gun battles between the Moro guerrillas and government troops continued for more than two days, leaving as many as 40 soldiers and 30 MNLF members dead.

Nov. 17, 2001. Eighteen soldiers were killed in an ambush by communist guerrillas in Compostela Valley.

Aug. 21, 2000. Sixteen soldiers were killed on the spot after at least 30 New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas fired on a truck carrying 28 soldiers in Himamaylan, Negros Occidental. One died later in a hospital in Bacolod City and seven others were wounded.

June 27, 2000. Thirteen soldiers, including a brigade commander, died after NPA rebels ambushed a convoy of soldiers returning to their base in Isabela from a medical mission.

May 7, 2000. Thirteen members of an Army Special Forces unit in Lantawan, Basilan, were ambushed and killed by Abu Sayyaf bandits while looking for 31 people taken hostage by the group in March 2000. The bandits mutilated some of the corpses.