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Thursday, October 06, 2005
3 killed, 8 wounded in Tawi-Tawi gunfight
By Al Jacinto
ZAMBOANGA CITY -- At least three persons were killed and eight others were wounded in a clash between security forces and gunmen off Tawi-Tawi province in the southern Philippines, officials said on Wednesday.
Officials said one policeman and two gunmen were killed and eight other government militias were injured in the clash that occurred near Languyan town on Monday.
"We still don't know the identities of the gunmen, but they could be pirates victimizing our fishermen. I have ordered security forces to intensify the operation against bad elements in the area," said Tawi-Tawi Governor Sadikul Sahali.
The fighting erupted after the gunmen opened fire on patrolling security forces that tried to intercept them.
It was not immediately known if the gunmen were members of the al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf.
"We cannot say right now if they are Abu Sayyaf members or not. The gunmen had fled after the clash," Sahali said.
The Abu Sayyaf group is known to actively operate in Tawi-Tawi and have kidnapped Indonesian sailors and Chinese fishermen in the past near the border with Malaysia.
Last month, troops captured six alleged Abu Sayyaf members in Bongao town in Tawi-Tawi and seized a small cache of weapons.
Washington listed the Abu Sayyaf as a foreign terrorist organization after Manila implicated five of the group's known leaders to the killing of Californian Guillermo Sobero in 2001 and Kansas missionary Martin Burnham in 2002.
The duo was kidnapped along with Burnham's wife Gracia and 17 Filipino holidaymakers in June 2001 from the posh Dos Palmas resort in Palawan province in central Philippines.
The US offered as much as five million dollars for the arrest of Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani and several other leaders. Manila also doubled its reward from five million to ten million pesos for their capture dead or alive. (Sun.Star Zamboanga/Sunnex)
(October 6, 2005 issue)
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