ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Oct. 1, 2012) – Government troop killed an Abu Sayyaf militant and wounded two more in a clash in the restive Muslim province of Basilan in the southern Philippines, army officials said on Monday.
Capt. Albert Caber, a spokesman for the 1st Infantry Division, said the weekend fighting erupted in the village of Mebak in Sumisip town, a known stronghold of the al-Qaeda-linked rebel group.
“The fighting broke out in Mebak village where troops are operating against the Abu Sayyaf and we killed one of them – Mohammad Aliman – and wounded two others – Kirum Tampuri and Kursi Umangkat – and there were no military casualties,” he told the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.
He said the regional army commander, Maj. Gen. Ricardo Rainier Cruz, has ordered an intensified operation against the lawless group, blamed for deadly attack in the province in recent weeks.
“General Cruz directed the unit commander on Basilan to continue the security operations at the target areas,” Caber said.
Cruz said the operation in Basilan, one of five provinces under the Muslim autonomous region, is aimed at protecting the civilians against the Abu Sayyaf. “We are doing these efforts to safeguard both Muslim and Christian residents in the province from harm,” he said.
Dozens of civilians, mostly rubber tree tappers in Sumisip town, had been killed and wounded in Abu Sayyaf attacks since early this year. The rebels have been demanding money from farm workers and their cooperative.
Philippine authorities linked the Abu Sayyaf to the al-Qaeda and Indonesian terror group Jemaah Islamiya, tagged as behind the spate of bombings in the southern region of Mindanao. (Mindanao Examiner)
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