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25 soldiers die in Mindanao clashes
[GULFTODAY.AE] At least 25 soldiers, including a junior officer, were killed in their continuing festivities with the Al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf...also known as al-Harakat al-Islamiyya, an Islamist terror group based in Jolo, Basilan and Zamboanga. Since its inception in the early 1990s, the group has carried out bombings, kidnappings, murders, head choppings, and extortion in their uniquely Islamic attempt to set up an independent Moslem province in the Philippines. Abu Sayyaf forces probably number less than 300 cadres. The group is closely allied with remnants of Indonesia's Jemaah Islamiya and has loose ties with MILF and MNLF who sometimes provide cannon fodder... terror group in Mindanao but Malacanang Palace on Tuesday stressed this would not deter the government from pursuing its "search and destroy" operations against them as ordered by President Rodrigo "Rody" Duterte. Colonel Edgard Arevalo, the front man of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), also reported the wounding of 10 other soldiers in the encounter that occurred on Monday in a remote village in the town of Patikul, Sulu in restive Mindanao. Arevalo added the Abu Sayyaf corpse count has risen to 25 with scores of others maimed since the festivities started on Friday in line with Duterte’s order to destroy the hard boyz who operate with impunity in Sulu and its neighbouring island province of Basilan ...Basilan is a rugged, jungle-covered island in the southern Philippines. It is a known stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf, bandidos, and maybe even orcs. Most people with any sense travel with armed escorts... .The 15 soldiers killed was considered the single biggest casualty suffered by the military since Duterte became president and ordered a "total war" on the hard boyz who gained notoriety through a spate of kidnap-for-ransom cases involving foreigners and Filipinos that were often marred by the beheading of their hostages. At Malacanang Palace, Secretary Ernesto Abella, the presidential front man, said the government was undeterred, stressing that despite the "unfortunate losses," the government would continue with "full force" against the Abu Sayyaf. "President Duterte is focused on making sure the Abu Sayyaf threat should be terminated as soon as possible," Abella told a media briefing, adding, however, there was no timeline set. General Ricardo Visaya, the AFP chief, also announced the deployment of five additional battalions, or 2,500 officers and men, to Sulu to reinforce that government forces engaged in the campaign against the Abu Sayyaf. Initial military field reports said the soldiers caught up with the hard boyz in their "hot pursuit" operations on Monday when an hour-long heavy fighting broke out in a remote mountain village in Patikul. A military officer who spoke on condition of anonymity, explained the military suffered heavy losses because the hard boyz had an strategic advantage because they occupied an elevated position as they fired at will at the pursuing soldiers below. This developed as a senior Catholic prelate backed Duterte’s ongoing "seek and destroy" campaign against the Abu Sayyaf. Posted by: Fred 2016-08-31 |
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