| Government troops recovered a firearms cache that was left behind by an ally of the Abu Sayyaf bandit group in southern Philippines. Lieutenant Colonel Julieto Ando said several high-powered firearms were confiscated on Thursday by members of the Philippine Army in a village in Cotabato City. Among the items seized from the Abu Sofia group, which banded together with the Abu Sayyaf, were an M-79 grenade launcher, an M-203, armalite rifles and assorted ammunition. The weapons discovery was a result of the government’s stepped up offensives against the Moslem rebels in Mindanao region, where most of the Moslems reside. |