ZAMBOANGA CITY – Fighting between security forces and Abu Sayyaf rebels broke out on Monday in the southern Philippines, leaving 3 soldiers wounded, the military said.
It said troops were tracking down the Abu Sayyaf when they ran into a group of rebels in Sulu’s Patikul town and sparking a running gun battle. The military did not release the names of the injured soldiers, but they all belong to the army’s 35th Infantry Battalion.
A military report said more than a dozen rebels under Ninok Saparri clashed with the soldiers, who were also searching for foreigners being held captive by the Abu Sayyaf in Patikul, a known rebel stronghold in Sulu, one of five provinces under the restive Muslim autonomous region.
No other details were provided by the military in the on-going operation against the Abu Sayyaf, whose members were mostly former fighters of the Moro National Liberation Front that signed a peace deal with Manila in September 1996.
Just recently, the decomposing body of a 74-year old South Korean man – Noi-seong Hong – was found by villagers near Patikul town.
Hong, who was kidnapped in January in Zamboanga Sibugay province, apparently died from an illness and that rebels dumped his body outside the Sulu State College. The military said Hong’s body bore no bullet wounds.
The body of the elderly Korean was transported to Zamboanga City by a military plane where it was taken by his grieving family and Korean embassy officials. (Mindanao Examiner)
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