MANILA(AFP) – Suspected al-Qaida-linked militants raided a village in the southern Philippines early Saturday, killing 11 people in the country's worst militant attack on civilians in nine years.

Gunmen from the extremist Abu Sayyaf group backed by renegade separatist rebels fired grenade launchers and automatic rifles on houses while residents were asleep, killing one government-armed militiaman and 10 civilians in the village of Tubigan on Basilan Island, said deputy regional police commander Sonny David.
The attack came in the wake of the recent killing of an Abu Sayyaf commander and the arrest of two key members. Government forces had been told to be on alert for reprisal attacks.
Four children were among those killed, said armed forces spokesman Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner. He corrected an earlier report that the target of the attack was the village's militia detachment.
Saturday's attack came a day after security forces rescued two Chinese nationals in nearby Sumisip township