ZAMBOANGA CITY – Government forces tracking down Abu Sayyaf rebels seized a small cache of weapons on a village in the southern Philippine province of Sulu, officials said Thursday.
Capt. Maria Rowena Muyuela, a spokesman for the Western Mindanao Command, said the weapons were recovered in the village of Mangis in Indanan town, a known stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf tagged by authorities as behind the spate of kidnappings and terrorism.
She said Col. Alan Arrojado, commander of the anti-terror task group in Sulu, reported that troops recovered oneM14 rifle with grenade launcher, one 9mm pistol, one .45-caliber pistol, four M16 rifles, three M14 rifles; one AK-47; one Barrett rifle; and one M4 rifle.
Arojado did not say in his report who owns the weapons.
Muyuela said Lt. Gen. Rustico Guerrero, chief of the Western Mindanao Command, ordered security forces in Sulu to intensify the campaign against the Abu Sayyaf, especially in Indanan town. “Our troops continue to cordon the area to prevent extrication of lawless elements operating in Indanan,” she quoted Guerrero as saying.
She said the military is closely working with the police and local governments in the conduct of relentless law enforcement operations in Sulu. (Mindanao Examiner – Ely Dumaboc)
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