Philippine troops clashed with Abu Sayyaf gunmen in a southern coastal village Sunday and killed a long-wanted militant who helped in the 2001 kidnapping of three American and 17 Filipino tourists and the takeover of a hospital, the military said.

Abdukarim Sali was killed before dawn in a clash with troops and police in Lower Mangas village on Basilan island's Lantawan township - a stronghold of the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf, regional military commander Lt. Gen. Benjamin Dolorfino said.

The other militants fled, leaving behind Sali's body, an M16 rifle and grenade launcher, ammunition and cell phones.

The government offered a $7,700 bounty for the capture or death of Sali, who has been accused of helping kidnap three American and 17 mostly Chinese Filipino tourists in May 2001 from the Dos Palmas resort in western Palawan province.