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Philippines: Soldiers, Abu Sayyaf Militants Killed in Southern Clash
[BenarNews] Three Filipino soldiers and six holy warriors from a faction of 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...
 inspired by the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
 (IS) died Friday during a clash in a remote jungle on southern Sulu island, two days after a major clash in another region of the southern Philippines, the military said.

Members of the 32nd Infantry Battalion were on the trail of Abu Sayyaf members when they were attacked by other holy warriors before noon, triggering fighting near the town of Patikul in Sulu province, according to Maj. Gen. Corleto Vinluan, chief of the army’s Joint Task Force Sulu.

"It is with deep sadness to report that three of our brave soldiers succumbed to death while defending the people of Sulu," Vinluan said.

At least six Abu Sayyaf fighters were killed but only three corpses were recovered after holy warriors removed the others from the battle scene, he said.

The names of the soldiers killed were not immediately available as their next of kin had not been notified, said local military front man Maj. Arvin John Encinas of the Western Mindanao Command.

The gunbattle occurred on Eid-ul-Adha, the Moslem festival known as the Feast of the Sacrifice, one of the two most important holidays on Islam’s calendar.

MILITANTS LINKED TO IS
The Abu Sayyaf is a small gang of holy warriors known for carrying out some of the country’s worst attacks, including kidnappings for ransom and bombings.

An IS-linked faction is led by Hatib Hajan Sawadjaan who is accused of planning and orchestrating the bombing of a Catholic church in Sulu’s capital town of Jolo that left 23 people dead in January 2019. Two Indonesian jacket wallahs were killed in that incident and authorities recently said they averted similar attacks with the arrest of four holy warriors in Manila.

Friday's shootout
 comes two days after two soldiers and at least 10 suspected holy warriors were killed during another shootout in the southern Philippines as troops hunted for a big shot of a different bully boy group linked to IS. At least 13 soldiers were maimed, a Philippine Army front man said.

The two-hour shootout on Wednesday with suspected members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters
...a MILF splinter group aligned with the Islamic State...
 bully boy group broke out as the army’s 57th Infantry Battalion launched an operation in marshlands near Datu Salibo, a town in Maguindanao province, officials said. The troops were searching for Ustadz Karialian, a BIFF commander also known as Imam Minimbang.

The two festivities occurred in towns that are about 750 km (465 miles) apart.
Posted by: trailing wife 2020-08-01
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=578517