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Friday, September 02, 2005
US planes arrive as hunt for Sayyaf intensifies
By Al Jacinto
ZAMBOANGA CITY -- Two US military planes landed Thursday in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippine region, where local security forces are battling members of the al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group, blamed for the recent firebombing of a ferry in Basilan island that killed one boy and injured 30 others.
Filipino soldiers said they saw a US Globemaster military transport plane unload soldiers and equipment inside the tightly guarded Edwin Andrews Air Base (EAAB), and that a second smaller aircraft followed 30 minutes later. But local security officials said they were unaware of it.
The arrival of the huge Globemaster briefly halted dozens of curious motorists on a highway near the air base as children watched in awe while the transport plane literally glided above them, witnesses said.
"It was a sight no other. The plane is so huge that you can see what's under its belly as it glided in the air above us," said tricycle driver Pedro Sanches in the vernacular.
The second plane was smaller and believed to have also come from the US Air Force. No US or Filipino officials would say what the planes were carrying or the mission of the soldiers here.
The US maintains a small force of American soldiers in Zamboanga City to help the Philippine military fight homegrown terrorism.
The arrival of the US aircrafts coincided with the fighting between local security forces and members of the al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group in the southern Maguindanao province.
The fighting broke out in the village of Gawang in the town of Datu Saudi Ampatuan after members of a patrolling police special action force ran into a group Abu Sayyaf militants.
There were no immediate reports of enemy casualties, but a regional military commander, Major General Agustin Dema-ala, said troops were sent to the area to pursue the militants, blamed for the series of bombings and killings in the southern region.
"Security forces are in the area pursuing the Abu Sayyaf. We are intensifying our hunt for the terrorists," Dema-ala said.
The country's largest Muslim separatist rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), said US soldiers were helping Filipino troops in the operation to capture Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani in Maguindanao.
As many as 30 US soldiers were hunting down the Abu Sayyaf, the MILF website "luwaran.com" said.
The Abu Sayyaf was blamed for the August 28 firebombing of the ferry m/v Dona Ramona in Basilan's Lamitan town, and two more bombings in Zamboanga City last month that left 26 civilians wounded.
The United States listed the Abu Sayyaf as a foreign terrorist organization. Washington also offered as much as $5 million bounty for the capture of known Abu Sayyaf leaders, including its chieftain Janjalani, for the killing of two kidnapped US citizens in 2002 in the southern Philippines.
(September 2, 2005 issue)
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