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Monday, September 05, 2005
3 soldiers killed in Sulu ambush
By Al Jacinto
ZAMBOANGA CITY -- Suspected Abu Sayyaf gunmen killed three unarmed army soldiers, including a lieutenant, in an ambush Sunday in Sulu Province, officials said.
The soldiers, two of them former Muslim rebels, were on their way to a mosque to pray when the militants, whose group is allied with the al-Qaeda terror network, attacked them near the village of Karawan in Indanan town, said Brigadier General Alexander Aleo, commander of a military anti-terror task force.
"The trio were unarmed and on a private jeep on their way to pray to the mosque when suspected Abu Sayyaf terrorists ambushed them. They were killed instantly," Aleo said by phone from a command post in Indanan town where troops mounted a pursuit operation against the attackers.
He said among those killed was a lieutenant and a corporal, who were former members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) that forged a peace deal with the government in September of 1996.
The trio, Aleo said, were members of the army's 53rd Infantry Battalion, which is actively involved in humanitarian mission in Jolo island, about 950 kilometers south of Manila.
"It was a treacherous attack and they killed three good soldiers, two of them Muslims, who were actively involved in humanitarian mission in Jolo. We condemn the attack, but this will not stop us from carrying out of mission of peace," Aleo said.
Military reports tagged Abu Sayyaf leader Umbra Jumdail, alias Dr. Abu, as behind the ambush. Troops have been tracking down Jumdail the past weeks.
Last month, soldiers stormed Jumdail's hideout in Indanan's Tarang village, in Sulu, but he escaped along with militant leader Albader Parad.
The duo were among a dozen known Abu Sayyaf leaders wanted by the United States in connection with the killing of kidnapped Californian tourist Guillermo Sobero in 2001 and Kansas missionary Martin Burham in 2002.
Government forces captured early this year Parad and Jumdail's jungle camp in Jolo's Karawan mountain complex after killing and wounding more than three dozen militants in two weeks of fierce fighting.
Authorities blamed the Abu Sayyaf in last month's firebombing of a ferry in Basilan island that killed two persons and wounded more than two dozen others.
The Abu Sayyaf was also implicated in two bombings in Zamboanga City in July that left at least 26 people seriously wounded.
The United States listed the Abu Sayyaf as a foreign terrorist organization. Philippine authorities said the Abu Sayyaf has links with the al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiya terror groups. (Sun.Star Zamboanga/Sunnex)
(September 5, 2005 issue)
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