Troops seize main Sayyaf camp in Sulu

MANILA, Philippines - Marines seized the Abu Sayyaf’s main camp in the jungles of Sulu Sunday after six hours of heavy fighting that required troops to climb steep terrain while bullets rained from above and to call for air strikes.

The soldiers were sent to the mountain redoubt to serve a warrant of arrest on Abu Sayyaf commanders Isnilon Hapilon, Albader Parad, and Umbra Jumdail alias Dr. Abu Pula.

However, Marines did not find the three when they entered the camp in Indanan, Sulu after the fighting.

Speaking to The STAR over the telephone, Maj. Gen. Ben Dolorfino, Armed Forces Western Mindanao Command chief, said Air Force planes and helicopters bombed Abu Sayyaf positions to soften resistance and allow the Marines to enter the camp.

Five soldiers were wounded in Sunday’s fighting, and 17 Abu Sayyaf terrorists were reportedly killed, he added.

Dolorfino said Marines raised the Philippine flag in the Abu Sayyaf camp in Indanan yesterday.

“Government forces here are totally in control,” he said.

“For the past 40 years they have remained untouched and even the barangay chairman, Tito Jainal, had been unable to go up there.”

Dolorfino said the Abu Sayyaf camp, located some 1,000 feet above sea level, was a kilometer away from a camp of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).

However, the MNLF did not intervene in the fighting, he added.

Dolorfino said the camp was littered with pieces of aluminum foil and other paraphernalia believed to be used in sniffing shabu.

Gafur Jumdail, the brother of Abu Sayyaf commander Dr. Abu Pula, is a known drug addict, he explained.

Dolorfino said the Marines will set up a detachment in the camp to prevent the terrorists from returning.

“This is their stronghold and we cannot allow them to regain control of this so we are establishing a detachment here so that their world would continue to get smaller,” he said,

Military scouts sighted some Abu Sayyaf terrorists fleeing from the camp, Dolorfino said.

8 Marines killed, 9 injured

At least eight Marines were killed and nine others injured when an Abu Sayyaf band ambushed pursuing troops in Sitio Baitamal, Barangay Laun Saing, Indanan town at around 2 p.m. yesterday, four hours after troops hoisted the Philippine flag in the captured terrorist camp.

At least three Abu Sayyaf terrorists were reportedly killed in the fighting.

Authorities withheld the names of the fatalities pending notification of their families.

Special Action Forces troops and policemen from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao reinforced the Marines running after the Abu Sayyaf.

300 evacuate from Indanan

More than 300 families have been evacuated from the nearby town of Jolo for fear of being caught in the cross fire from the fighting in Indanan.

Provincial government sources said explosions in Indanan could be heard in Jolo as military jets and helicopter gunships strafed Abu Sayyaf positions.

“Two of the planes and two attack helicopters were sighted hovering over the vicinity of Sitio Talibang, Barangay Buansa,” sources said.

Residents complained that the bombardment disturbed the celebration of Eid al-Fitr in the Muslim-dominated town in Sulu.

However, Dolofino, a Muslim, said the operation was aimed at the Abu Sayyaf, and that the military took into consideration the Islamic festivity.

Palace: troops to bring home 3 teachers

Malacañang has assured the families of three teachers snatched by the Abu Sayyaf in Zamboanga Sibugay that the military would bring them home.

Deputy presidential spokesman Anthony Golez said troops are tracking down the Abu Sayyaf band that kidnapped the three public school teachers last March. The kidnappers had threatened to behead the teachers.

“So the most important thing is to secure them at the soonest possible time and without endangering their lives,” he said in Filipino.

“Rest assured that the AFP and the police authorities are doing everything they can to prevent this (beheading) from happening.”

Golez urged the families of the three teachers to remain strong and to keep their faith in the military.

“The forces of the AFP are focused on getting them back alive,” he said.

DepEd praying for teachers

The Department of Education (DepEd) is resorting to “prayer power” and relying on the government crisis management committee for the release of three public school teachers kidnapped last March.

In a statement from Paris, Education Secretary Jesli Lapus, said the DepEd family was “praying for a breakthrough” in the negotiations.

“We pray that a breakthrough will happen in the crucial negotiations as it did in the case of the freed Zamboanga City teachers,” he said.

Lapus said the end of Ramadan and the celebration of Teachers’ Month are excellent reasons for the kidnappers to show kindness and adherence to Islamic values of peace.

“Here at the United Nations Education, Scientific & Culture Organizations (UNESCO) in Paris, the Muslim member-states also condemn this violence committed on educators who the whole world exalts as the most noble of missionaries,” he said.

“We appeal for the immediate release of our teachers.”

The three teachers – Noemi Mando, Jocelyn Enriquez, and Jocelyn Inion – of Bangkaw-Bangkaw Elementary School in Zamboanga Sibugay were snatched at sea last March 13 while on their way home from school. 

Three other public school teachers kidnapped in Zamboanga City last Jan. 23 were released last May. They are Rafa el Mayonado, 22, Janette de los Reyes, 27, and Freires Quizon, 29.

The Teachers Dignity Coalition (TDC) challenged Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr. and his running-mate Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno to show their effectiveness and crisis management skills by effecting the unconditional release of the three kidnapped public school teachers in Zamboanga Sibugay.

Caloocan public school teacher Benjo Basa, TDC chairman, said the release of the teachers would be a good way for the two to score points with the half a million public school teachers and DepEd personnel.

“The situation now is very crucial,” he said. – With Edith Regalado, Jaime Laude, Roel Pareño, Rainier Allan Ronda, Marvin Sy