BASILAN – A government soldier was killed and two more wounded following fierce clashes Monday with suspected Abu Sayyaf gunmen in the restive Basilan, one of 5 provinces in the Muslim autonomous region in southern Philippines.
The fighting broke out in the village called Badja in Tipo-Tipo town, a known stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf and the larger Moro Islamic Liberation Front which has forged an interim peace deal with Manila in 2014.
The victims were members of the army’s 74th Infantry Battalion which has been deployed in the province to fight the jihadist group, blamed by authorities for the spate of terrorism and ransom kidnappings in the troubled region.
The clashes occurred just hours after an improvised explosive had been detonated in Kulaybato village in Lamitan City, but there were no reported casualties in the suspected Abu Sayyaf bombing.
The Western Mindanao Command and the Philippine Army did not release any information into the breakout of violence in Basilan, just several nautical miles south of Zamboanga City. (Mindanao Examiner)
Like Us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mindanaoexaminer
Follow Us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MindanaoExamine
Read Our News on: http://www.mindanaoexaminer.com /http://mindanaoexaminernewspaper.blogspot.com/
Share Our News
Digital Archives: issuu.com/mindanaoexaminernewspaper
20
