ZAMBOANGA CITY – Two Abu Sayyaf militants were killed in a clash Wednesday with military forces in Sulu, one of 5 provinces under the Muslim autonomous region in Mindanao, officials said.
Officials said 3 militants and a government soldier were also wounded in the fighting in Pugad Manaul village in Panamao town. The slain Abu Sayyaf fighters were followers of Alhabsy Misaya, one of the group’s sub-leader tagged as behind ransom kidnappings in Sabah, Malaysia.
Major Filemon Tan, a spokesman for the Western Mindanao Command, said soldiers from the 35th and 10th Infantry Battalions clashed with the Abu Sayyaf, but it was unknown whether Misaya was fighting alongside the slain militants.
He said air force planes provided support to ground troops who were fighting the militants, whose group is being linked by authorities to the Islamic State. Misaya’s group, the military said, is holding Malaysian and Indonesian hostages.
The fighting came a day after suspected Abu Sayyaf gunmen snatched a Malaysian fisherman in Sabah. Malaysian authorities have confirmed the abduction and said the gunmen sped off in a boat that headed to Tawi-Tawi, also a province in the Muslim autonomous region.
On Tuesday, troops also killed two notorious Abu Sayyaf militants – brothers Nixon and Brown Muktadil – tagged as behind cross-border kidnappings in the rich Malaysian state of Sabah.
Security forces raided the brothers’ hideout in Tambulian Island off Sulu’s Pata town and killed them. The two men were behind the kidnappings of at least 26 Indonesian and Malaysian crew members of slow-moving tugboats in Sabah near Tawi-Tawi province.
The military said the killing of the Muktadil brothers was a big blow to the Abu Sayyaf because the duo served as sea guides and navigators during its kidnapping activities in Sabah. (Mindanao Examiner)
Like Us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mindanaoexaminer
Follow Us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MindanaoExamine
Read Our News on: http://www.mindanaoexaminer.com / http://mindanaoexaminernewspaper.blogspot.com/
Share Our News
Digital Archives: issuu.com/mindanaoexaminernewspaper
20
