COTABATO, Philippines, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) -- A Filipino Marine was injured in a clash with Al-Qaida affiliated Abu Sayyaf gunmen Sunday night in the restive southern Philippines.

    A 15-minute fighting erupted around 9:45 p.m。 in the village of Batu-Bato in Indanan town in Sulu when Abu Sayyaf gunmen tried to blow up a bridge in the area, Joint Task Force Commander Colonel Rustico Guerrero said on Monday.

    Guerroro said operatives of Marine Battalion Landing Team 7 arrived at the scene minutes before the rebel attack, resulting a brief encounter that left one Filipino troop wounded.

    The bridge has just been fixed following two bomb attacks staged by militants last month.

    The 380-strong Abu Sayyaf group, founded in the early 1990s by Islamic extremists, is notorious for kidnappings, bombings and even beheadings in the South over the past decade.

    The group was blacklisted by Washington as a foreign terrorist organization.