ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Feb. 10, 2014) – Security forces have launched an operation to capture Abu Sayyaf gunmen tagged in the spate of kidnappings in the southern Philippine province of Sulu.
Marines earlier clashed with Abu Sayyaf rebels under Sihata Latip and Abraham Hamid in Talipao town that left at least 9 gunmen dead and wounded and one of the slain had been identified as Rakib Jal. Troops also captured a rebel encampment on a remote village used by the Abu Sayyaf to launch attacks on civilian and military targets in the province.
The camp was being used by Abu Sayyaf leaders Sibih Pisih and Idang Susukan. It was unknown if there were weapons or bombs in the base which is now being held by the Marine Battalion Landing Team 2.
Several government militias who are members of the Barangay Peace Action Team were also wounded and that two of them – Niko Minuddin and Sabor Sasapan – had been evacuated to Zamboanga City for emergency medical operation, local police said.
“The victims were airlifted to the Western Mindanao Command and immediately rushed to Zamboanga Medical Center,” said Chief Inspector Ariel Huesca, a regional police spokesman.
Last month, provincial police forces led by Senior Superintendent Abraham Orbita clashed with a small band of Abu Sayyaf gunmen that eventually swelled to about 400 after armed supporters of the terror group attacked them in the village of Tanduh Bato in Luuk town.
The fighting was so fierce that Orbita’s group, backed by a pair of armoured carriers, managed to hold their ground until police reinforcement arrived, but the gunmen broke into smaller groups and dispersed.
In May 2009, a police commander of Sulu, Senior Superintendent Julasirim Kasim and three of his aides and a brother, were killed in an ambush staged by Abu Sayyaf group in Maimbung town. Kasim had been in the front line in battling the Abu Sayyaf.
The Abu Sayyaf, which means “Bearer of the sword,” has been linked by authorities to the al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiya and is blamed on the spate of bombings in the southern Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner)
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