Top Filipino militant wounded in army attack

MANILA (Reuters) - A Filipino Islamist militant leader, who has a $5 million (3 million pounds) American bounty on his head, was wounded but managed to escape in an army offensive that killed eight rebels in the southern Philippines, a military official said on Tuesday.

Isnilon Hapilon, a known leader of the al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf Group, was hit in the military raid but his followers were able to drag him to safety before soldiers could seize control of the rebels' jungle base, said Colonel Carlito Galvez, brigade commander.