ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / July 26, 2012) – At least 18 army soldiers and Abu Sayyaf gunmen were killed on Thursday afternoon as fierce fighting rages on in the restive province of Basilan, a security spokesman said.
Army Lt. Col. Randolph Cabangbang said eight soldiers and 10 militants were killed in the fighting that broke out at around 3 p.m. in the village of Mebak in Sumisip town. He said 16 soldiers and four Abu Sayyaf gunmen were also wounded in the clash.
“The fighting is fierce and the operations (against the Abu Sayyaf) still continue in the area,” Cabangbang told the Mindanao Examiner.
Capt. Albert Caber, a spokesman for the 1st Infantry Division, reported that the latest fighting was triggered by Abu Sayyaf attacks on an army detachment and on a convoy of soldiers sent to reinforce troops pursuing the terrorist group.
Military reports have identified the slain Abu Sayyaf militants as Ustadz Hassan Asnawi and his son Jumaidi Asnawi, Nurham Asnawi, Juhair Aliman, Kaobut Mastul, Hudjata Marain, Meloy Patpi, and Balong. And the wounded militants as Wyms Wakil, Jarad Marain, Jaz Umangkat and another man who identity remains unknown.
Earlier on the day, the military said 7 soldiers and four militants were also killed in the fighting in the hinterland village of Upper Cabengbeng.
Cabangbang said the militants were behind deadly attacks on civilians and soldiers in the town of Sumisip the past weeks.
He said Wakil, a former official of a rubber plantation cooperative, was among those who led the Abu Sayyaf in the fighting in Upper Cabengbeng. Wakil, who was fired last year from his job as a supervisor, had been linked to 16 killings – whose victims were mostly rubber plantation workers – in the last 9 months.
“Wakil, who joined the Abu Sayyaf after being fired from his job, led attacks against these innocent farm workers and 16 of them were killed and about three more dozens are wounded in attacks the past nine months,” Cabangbang said.
On Wednesday, soldiers fought with Abu Sayyaf gunmen for about 10 minutes and the clash stopped after the militants, numbering about 20, broke into smaller groups and fled to the hinterlands.
Philippine authorities have linked the Abu Sayyaf to both the Al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiya terrorist groups, and responsible for many atrocities and kidnappings for ransom in Mindanao. (Mindanao Examiner)
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