The Philippine military has dispatched additional troops to a southern island where Muslim rebels killed 14 marines searching for an abducted Italian priest, DPA QUOTED a spokesman as saying Friday. Lieutenant Colonel Ariel Caculitan, a marines spokesman, said 500 soldiers were being deployed to the island province of Basilan, 900 kilometres south of Manila. "One marine battalion will proceed to Basilan to beef up the forces in the area," he told reporters. "We realized that we don't have enough forces there to pursue operations." Caculitan said the additional troops would also boost efforts to search for Italian priest Giancarlo Bossi, 57, who was abducted on June 10 from the nearby province of Zamboanga Sibugay. Fourteen marines were killed in a fierce nine-hour battle with Muslim rebels in Tipo-Tipo town in Basilan on Tuesday.
