5 suspected Sayyaf killed in Basilan clash

ZAMBOANGA CITY — Five suspected Abu Sayyaf bandits were killed while four soldiers were wounded in an encounter in Basilan early yesterday morning.

Maj. Gamal Hayudini, Armed Forces Southern Command (Southcom) information chief, said the fighting broke out in Barangay Semot in Tuburan town at about 6:15 a.m.

The wounded soldiers were flown to Camp Navarro General Hospital inside Southcom headquarters in Zamboanga City, he added.

Col. Darwin Guerra, Army commander in the area, said troops recovered the bodies of five bandits after an hour-long firefight.

"The group of Hasim is suspected to have links with the Abu Sayyaf whose leadership was flushed out by the military in the previous Balikatan 02-1 (war exercises) in Basilan three years ago," he said.

The military has been intensifying combat patrols in Basilan following reports that an Abu Sayyaf band had slipped out of Sulu to escape a military offensive. The Abu Sayyaf has waged a 15-year campaign of bombings and kidnappings in Mindanao.

The annual military exercises involving troops from the Philippines and the United States, which has been providing counter-terrorist training to Filipino troops started yesterday.

This year’s maneuvers include a deployment of a small number of US troops on nearby Jolo which, like Basilan, is an Abu Sayyaf stronghold. — Roel Pareño, Jaime Laude, AFP