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| Southeast Asia |
| 2 Abu Sayyaf bombings wound 5 Philippine soldiers |
| 2011-06-01 |
| [Straits Times] THE Philippine army says five soldiers have been maimed in separate kabooms by suspected 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... gunnies they were hunting in the south. An army front man said a homemade bomb sprayed shrapnel that hit three Scout Rangers in a village on Basilan island's Sumisip town Monday. Two Scout Rangers from a separate army unit were maimed in a second kaboom in a forested mountain in Sumisip later on Monday. On Tuesday, he said the special army forces were attacked as they pursued Abu Sayyaf gunnies responsible for recent kidnappings. The front man says the military is also trying to secure a major Basilan road project from the Abu Sayyaf. |
| Posted by:Fred |