Abu Sayyaf casualties pile up in Sulu clashes

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines — Abu Sayyaf extremists suffered the higher number of casualties in last Saturday’s clashes with government troops in Sulu, the military maintained yesterday.

Col. Gerald Monfort, spokesman for the newly created 11th Army Division in Sulu, said the troops had “good visual shots” of the militants during the firefight.

At least eight people were killed and 33 others wounded in heavy fighting between Army Rangers and a large group of Abu Sayyaf gunmen in a remote village in Patikul.

The military said five soldiers, including a junior Army officer, and three Abu Sayyaf militants were killed in the two-hour firefight in Sitio Sungkog, Barangay Kabbon on Saturday.

Some 18 others were wounded in the clashes, officials said.

Despite the higher number of fatalities on the government side, Monfort said the troops that figured in the firefight with the Abu Sayyaf in the area were certain that the militants sustained the higher number of casualties.

“The Abu Sayyaf group positively suffered bigger fatalities than what was monitored because the army rangers have good visual shots on the targets. They saw how they were fatally shot down,” Monfort said.

Based on the accounts of the soldiers who were wounded in the clash, the Abu Sayyaf gunmen were in a defensive position where some of the militants were taken down by sniper fire.

Officials believed the bodies of the killed militants were dragged away by their comrades who broke up into smaller groups to escape.

“We believe they were not able to slip out from the area and were trying to consolidate,” Monfort said.

The military have deployed additional troops as blocking forces to cordon the area and prevent a big group of Abu Sayyaf from slipping out of the theater of operation in Patikul town.

Col. Gerry Besana, spokesman for the Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom), said among the three bandits killed was a certain Black Moro.

The military said Black Moro was a suspected Indonesian terrorist alleged to have volunteered to carry out the attack on Our Lady of Mount Caramel Cathedral in Jolo where 22 were killed.

The militants were led by Abu Sayyaf commander Hatib Hajan Sawadjaan, who is suspected of helping plot the bombing.

The Abu Sayyaf, which has about 300 to 400 armed fighters, has been globally blacklisted as a terrorist organization because of years of bombings, kidnappings and beheadings of hostages.

Government forces have over the years pressed on sporadic offensives to crush the Abu Sayyaf.

Since the Jolo cathedral attack, the Air Force has launched airstrikes on suspected militant bases near Patikul and police killed a suspected militant on a raid in the city.

President Duterte earlier this week said the church bombing was a suicide attack carried out by a militant couple.

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said Friday that an Indonesian couple was responsible for the bombing aimed at fomenting sectarian conflict in Mindanao.

The Indonesian man reportedly used the nom de guerre Abu Huda and Philippine authorities said they would coordinate with their Indonesian counterparts to try to validate the identities of the two.

Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir said the government had not been able to confirm the involvement of Indonesians in the attack. – With AP