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Thursday, August 10, 2006
5 Abu Sayyaf militants captured in Sulu town
By Al Jacinto
ZAMBOANGA CITY -- Soldiers clashed Wednesday with Abu Sayyaf militants in the outskirts of Patikul town in Sulu and arrested five members of the group, the military said.
Officials said the fighting erupted after marine soldiers pursuing Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani and two Jemaah Islamiya militants caught up with the group in Patikul town.
There were no immediate reports of casualties but officials claimed troops recovered an M16 automatic rifle and a .45-caliber pistol left behind by the Abu Sayyaf.
Armed Forces public information office chief Bartolome Bacarro said five of the terrorists were captured following a 30-minute firefight with soldiers from the 3rd Marine Brigade under Brigadier General Juancho Sabban.
The clash came a day after suspected Abu Sayyaf gunmen killed a government soldier near Tagbak village in Indanan town, scene of fierce fighting between security and Abu Sayyaf forces the past week.
Bacarro said the troops from the 62nd Force Reconnaissance Company and Special Operations Platoon of the 5th Marine Battalion Landing Team caught up with an undetermined number of terrorists at around 4:30 a.m.
It was not clear if Janjalani and JI operatives Omar Patek and Dulmatin were with the group that clashed Wednesday with government soldiers.
Patek and Dulmatin were tagged as behind the 2002 bombings in Bali, Indonesia that left 200 people dead.
"We haven't received any (further) details on the encounter," he said.
When asked if the military has sighted Janjalani and his cohorts in Sulu province, Bacarro said: "We do believe that they are still in the area, as to the areas where they were sighted we cannot disclose it yet."
He added that government forces have already sealed off all possible escape routes of Janjalani and his cohorts in Patikul and Indanan towns "purposely to deny the enemy maneuver and exit routes."
The military launched a renewed campaign against the group of Janjalani upon receipt of information that he is seeking refuge in the area. Janjalani is among five Abu Sayyaf leaders wanted by the US Government for the kidnapping of three of its citizens, including a missionary couple, at the posh Dos Palmas resort in Palawan in 2001.
A number of skirmishes have already occurred before the latest clash.
On Tuesday, gunmen opened fired on a soldier returning to his barracks on a motorcycle at around 10 a.m. The attackers carted his pistol and escaped to the hills. Abu Sayyaf guerillas had killed in the past dozens of soldiers and policemen and civilians suspected of aiding the authorities in the strife-torn Jolo island, about 950 kilometers south of Manila.
More than a dozen others--militants and soldiers--were also killed and wounded in the clashes on Jolo island, a known stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf group.
Washington listed the Abu Sayyaf as a foreign terrorist organization and was implicated in the kidnapping of three US citizens in 2001, two of who were killed during captivity. The US has offered $10 million bounty each for the capture of Janjalani and Dulmatin and another $1 million for Patek.
Philippine authorities have implicated Dulmatin in the 2003 bombing of the Davao International Airport and Sasa wharf in Davao City in Mindanao. Three of his local Abu Sayyaf contacts -- Pedro Guiamat, Ali Salipada and Norodin Mangalen -- were arrested last year in Maguindanao Province.
A bomb hidden in a backpack exploded in March 2003 at the Davao airport terminal, killing 19 people, including US missionary William Hyde, and wounding more than 145 people. A second bomb explosion also ripped through a passenger terminal in Sasa wharf that killed and wounded dozens of people. (Sunnex/With VR)
(August 10, 2006 issue)
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