ZAMBOANGA CITY – A government soldier was fatally shot and his companion wounded in an attack Thursday by motorcycle gunmen in the town of Patikul in Sulu, one of 5 provinces under the volatile Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Police said the soldiers, members of the 35th Infantry Battalion, just came from Zamboanga City and were heading to their barracks on a motorcycle when the assailants tailed them attacked the duo.
The attackers sped off after the shooting, leaving the bloodied soldiers behind. The identities of the victims were not immediately known and the Western Mindanao Command did not issue any statement in connection with the attack.
Just recently, a suspected Abu Sayyaf member also lobbed a grenade on a military truck transporting troops in Jolo town and injured 7 special rangers. The soldiers just arrived by boat in Jolo from Zamboanga City and were heading to their camp when the attack occurred at the port area, just several blocks from the police headquarters.
The soldiers were sent to the province to augment ground forces battling the Abu Sayyaf which pledged allegiance with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. There was no arrest made, but suspicion fell heavily on Abu Sayyaf which is holding several foreigners in Sulu’s hinterlands and has threatened to execute one of them.
On Wednesday, the military claimed to have seized an Abu Sayyaf encampment following nearly an hour of fighting at a remote village of Gulangan in Maimbung town. There were no reports of casualties from both sides, but the military said the camp can accommodate as much as 200 people. It said the encampment was being used by Abu Sayyaf leader Idang Susukan.
Soldiers also recovered gun parts, a motorcycle and personal belongings left behind by fleeing gunmen. (Mindanao Examiner)
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