The number of confirmed fatalities in a fierce firefight between government forces and Abu Sayyaf Group bandits in Basilan has risen to 53, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) officials said Thursday.

The AFP said 23 soldiers and 30 ASG bandits were killed in the assault on a major stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf.

Military officials said 22 soldiers, ten of them from the Philippine Army, were also wounded in the clash which lasted for hours.

Initial reports from the field said that among those killed was suspected Jemaah Islamiyah member Khair Mundos who has a $500,000 bounty on his head from the US government.

The military said it has yet to confirm the reports.

Mundos was arrested in 2004 on money laundering charges following an investigation initiated by the U.S. authorities in coordination with Philippine officials.

Mundos confessed to having arranged the transfer of funds from Al-Qaida to ASG leader Khadaffy Janjalani to be used in bombing and other criminal acts in Mindanao. He escaped from the provincial jail of North Cotabato in Kidapawan City, in February, 2003.

The AFP said clash started at around 3:45 a.m. Thursday at Sitio Kurellem, barangay Silangkum, Tipo-Tipo town in Basilan.

Of the 30 slain ASG, 20 were recovered while 10 were carted away by fleeing comrades.

AFP public affairs chief, Lt. Col. Romero Brawner Jr., said, “It is very unfortunate that we had several casualties in the encounter.”

But he said “soldiers are always ready for this kind of eventuality.”

He described the encounter as an almost “hand-to-hand combat.”

Navy spokesman, Lt. Col. Edgard Arevalo, said the ferocious firefight reached a peak at noon, it dwindled in the afternoon, then peaked again at around 6:00 p.m. He said sporadic gun shots were still heard as of 8:30 p.m.

He added the encounters started in Silangkum, Tipo-Tipo and spread to barangay Baguindan as the military conducted pursuit operations against the fleeing members of the ASG led by Furuji Indama.

Arevalo said the number of Abu Sayyaf casualties is expected to increase as the military conducts mopping up operations.

He said the military was able to deprive the ASG of a stronghold used as a site to train bombers and the manufacture improvised bombs.

The AFP said seized from the camp were several high powered firearms, including M-14 rifles, M-203, rocket propelled grenade (RPG), M-16 rifles, M-16 with M-203, improvised bombs, and bomb making equipments and components.

Brawner said while government forces suffered casualties, the assault was a successful in overrunning a major Abu Sayyaf camp.