Cult clash leaves 20 dead

Troops fire at cultists during the ambush

Twenty people have been killed in a clash between a Christian religious cult and troops in the Philippines, the army said.

The troops had gone to Mindanao island, 870 miles (1,400 km) from the capital, Manila, to serve an arrest warrant on Alfredo Opciona - leader of the Catholic God Spirit cult.

The raiding party was then ambushed by about 20 members of the cult armed with knives.

Sixteen cult members, three members of the army and one civilian volunteer died in the incident at around 1545 local time (0745 GMT) on Friday in Pangantocan town.

A BBC correspondent said violence involving religious cults was not unknown in the Philippines, although it was rare for such violence to cost so many lives.

Catholic God Spirit were one of several civilian organisations that battled Muslim insurgents in the 1970s, but police say it now functions as a Christian group.

Most Filipinos are Roman Catholics, but there are hundreds of small Christian sects like Catholic God Spirit, separate from the Roman Catholic Church or the established Protestant churches.

Vigilante groups

In some places these cults have a militant outlook. This is particularly so in the southern Philippines.

Muslim extremists are fighting for independence in the southern Philippines

There, some members of the Muslim minority are fighting for independence. In response, some Christians formed vigilante groups which are often associated with religious cults.

An army spokesman denied the encounter had anything to do with the government's battle with Muslim separatists.

"There's no connection. This was a Christian religious organisation and there was just a warrant for the group's leader," he said.

Abu Sayyaf are still holding 20 hostages on Jolo

Meanwhile, Filipino Muslim extremists holding 20 hostages in the southern island of Jolo are awaiting a huge ransom payment, sources close to the kidnappers said on Saturday.

It was not immediately clear how many of the foreign captives would walk free but other sources close to the negotiators said two Germans, two French, two Finns, two South Africans and a Franco-Lebanese woman, all seized from a Malaysian resort on April 23, would soon be released.

The sources did not mention the three Malaysians and two Filipinos who were also seized by the Abu Sayyaf from the Malaysian resort.

The Abu Sayyaf have previously freed six Malaysians and a German along with a German reporter and two Filipino journalists who went to cover the crisis, for what the Philippines military estimated were ransoms totalling 245 million pesos ($5.5m).