MANILA, PHILIPPINES (AP) -- The Philippine military says it engaged militants holding three Red Cross workers, after the rebels tried to break a military cordon that's boxed them in for days.
The fighting with Abu Sayyaf (AH'-boo SEYE'-yahf) is still going on.
The military has been trying to allow for a peaceful handover, but says a rescue attempt could be made if things start to deteriorate.
A military spokesman says the militants fired first. Another official says the clash apparently started with an advance group of militants, and that the hostages, one Swedish, one Italian, and the other Filipino, may have been with a main group nearby.
Five Filipino marines were wounded.
Abu Sayyaf is on a U.S. list of terrorist organizations, and has links to al-Qaida and involvement in kidnappings, beheadings and bombings.
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