ZAMBOANGA CITY – Police authorities are holding 14 people, including two women, who were intercepted by soldiers near an Abu Sayyaf stronghold in the southern Philippine province of Sulu, officials said.
Police were investigating them to determine whether they have links or members or supporters of the Abu Sayyaf group. “They are subject for questioning by the police since all of them were at the encounter site in Talipao town. We handed all 14 of them to the police,” said Marine Captain Maria Rowena Muyuela, a spokeswoman for the Western Mindanao Command.
Muyuela said among those being held for investigation are two women. “They were no arrested and are just being questioned by the authorities on why they were in the Abu Sayyaf area,” she told the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.
Troops were still pursuing the Abu Sayyaf in the hinterlands of Sulu where a recent encounter in Talipao town killed and wounded over 50 people from both sides. Just recently, soldiers also recovered a pile of solar panels left behind by fleeing rebels. The solar panels were used by rebels to recharge their cell phones and laptop computers and even radio transceivers.
Soldiers also recovered pots and pans, blackened by soot, and clothing, and rubber boots abandoned by rebels as they escaped a massive military operation in the hinterlands of Talipao and Patikul towns, known stronghold of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group in the province, according to Muyuela.
Despite the on-going military operations, Governor Totoh Tan hosted the congressional public hearing and consultation on the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law attended by thousands of people in Patikul town. The event was one of the series of consultations that Congress launched in Mindanao about the House Bill 4994. (Mindanao Examiner)
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