Five members of the Philippine Marines have been reported wounded in an ongoing firefight with members of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) holding three kidnapped Red Cross workers in Sulu province, the military said Monday.

Lt. Col. Fatima Rasul, Task Force Comet civil-military operations chief, confirmed an ongoing firefight in Barangay Lanao Dakula in Indanan town where the three staff members of the International Committee of the Red Cross are believed being held by their abductors.

"It was a chance encounter," she said.

Rasul said that the encounter happened because of the pressure exerted by the military and civilian on the abductors.

“The ASG are trying to get out of the cordoned area, they have no way out but face the civilian volunteers and the military,” she said.

Brig. Gen. Gaudencio Pangilinan, AFP Civil Relations Service chief, in an interview over ABS-CBN News Channel’s Top Story confirmed the ongoing firefight between troops of the Philippine Marines and the ASG.

“Right now they tried to extricate, about an hour ago. The firefight started, the ASG fired first and we’re trying to overwhelm them, they fired first, we have several wounded so far,” said Pangilinan.

Pangilinan said that five members of the Philippine Marines have been wounded in the ongoing firefight while they have yet to determine casualties on the side of the ASG.

Pangilinan said that the ASG members that the troops encountered was “definitely part of the group, not entirely the exact group holding the hostages… presumably an advance group or the scouts of the Abu Sayyaf.”

He said there was no information yet if there were any of the hostages in the group which was trying to break out of the military cordon.

Evacuees from Indanan town meanwhile are starting to populate downtown Jolo but no evacuation centers have yet been prepared for them.

Most of the civilians who fled their homes from Indanan town reportedly stayed with friends and relatives in Jolo.

Military and police checkpoints in the highway were tightened due to the possible escape by the bandit groups from the military which have cordoned of the area.

The ASG led by Albader Parad ahd said it is still holding Swiss national Andreas Notter, Italian Eugenio Vagni and Filipino Mary Jean Lacaba.

The three were kidnapped last January 15 after inspecting a humanitarian project at a prison facility.