Philippine troops killed at least 11 Abu Sayyaf militants, including an influential commander, in an assault on the extremists Friday following their beheading of a captive whose family was too poor to pay ransom, the military said, according to ABC News.

Regional military commander Maj. Filemon Tan said 17 soldiers were wounded when hundreds of army troops surrounded a vast jungle area in Sulu province's mountainous Patikul town and clashed with scattered groups of about 100 militants.

Among the 11 dead militants was Amah Maas, a longtime commander of the group who had severed arms and had been implicated in ransom kidnappings, including of European tourists.

President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the troops to destroy the militants in their jungle bases after the extremists on Wednesday beheaded a Filipino teenager, Patrick James Aldovar, who was abducted near a police camp in Sulu's main Jolo town last month.

Source: MENA