MANILA - The Abu Sayyaf terror group in Basilan is now using women and child soldiers in their war against the Philippine government, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro said Monday.

"These Abu Sayyaf and lawless elements, they have women and children with them who carry the ammunition into battle and who retrieve the bodies. That is why our ground troops are hesitant to use cannons or air support because no matter how much we defend it, if a woman or child is killed during the battle because of a bomb, the government will be on the losing end," Teodoro told radio dzMM.

The defense chief said the Abu Sayyaf are no longer using women and children as human shields in gunbattles with the military. "They are no longer human shields. They are combatants now," he said.

Teodoro said the military has made significant gains after taking over the Abu Sayyaf's main training camp in Ungkaya Pukan town in Basilan last August 12. He said soldiers retrieved eight large bombs at the camp plus components to make another 70 explosives.

Twenty-three soldiers and 20 Abu Sayyaf fighters were killed when the military overran the training camp last Wednesday.

Teodoro said the military suffered heavy casualties after members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front from a nearby town ambushed a group of soldiers who were retrieving their wounded.

"Even if they call themselves MILF, they have different chiefs, different groups...What the MILF should do is admit that they have no control over these groups because it just destroys their name. [These fighters] are MILF for convenience but Abu Sayyaf in disguise," he said.

President Arroyo has ordered the complete annihilation of the Abu Sayyaf after the killings of 23 soldiers in Basilan. "The war against terror must be pursued. The annihilation of the Abu Sayyaf must be done," Teodoro quoted Arroyo as saying.

Mrs. Arroyo warned that MILF fighers who joined in the slaughter of the soldiers would be hunted down despite a ceasefire with the rebel group.

Teodoro warned that the government also knew which MILF groups had aided the Abu Sayyaf in the fighting and warned that the government would go after them.

"There are cases we have already filed against them and we have filed protests" with the international group monitoring the government's ceasefire with the MILF, Teodoro told reporters. With Agence France-Presse