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Monday, January 22, 2007
Military in 'final battles' v. Sayyaf
MANILA -- Government troops plan to intensify US-backed assaults on three southern provinces in what could be the final battles to finish off the al Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf rebel group following the death of its top leader, the military chief said Sunday.
The government announced on Saturday that the country's most-wanted terror suspect, Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani, was killed in a clash with troops four months ago, citing results from DNA testing done in the United States.
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The announcement came four days after US-backed Philippine troops killed senior Abu Sayyaf commander Abu Sulaiman, one of Janjalani's possible successors.
"The tempo of our offensives now would be faster and more ferocious," military chief of staff General Hermogenes Esperon told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
"We'll give them no quarters, we have to hit all the remaining leaders while they're in a crisis," Esperon said.
In a sign of the troops' high morale, Esperon said he recently allowed some of the 7,000 soldiers pursuing Abu Sayyaf's remaining guerrillas on southern Jolo island to take a break from the US-backed military campaign that began August 1 but virtually nobody took the offer.
High morale
"They can feel that the final battles are at hand and they want to be part of those final battles," Esperon said.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said Janjalani's death "marks the mortal turning point for the Abu Sayyaf."
She added that the military's prowess, backed by US non-combat assistance and public vigilance "combined to breach the deadly ring of evil" and laid the militants "open for the final blow."
Esperon said the deaths of Janjalani and Sulaiman, who oversaw Abu Sayyaf's battles and logistics, have considerably weakened the insurgents on the battlefield.
"Their volume of fire has really become weak and they've lost their capability to rapidly maneuver after they lost their leaders," he said.
Aside from stepping up assaults against the Abu Sayyaf on Jolo, about 950 kilometers south of Manila, a marine contingent would be deployed to nearby Basilan island to help hunt Abu Sayyaf remnants there and undertake humanitarian projects, Esperon said.
There will also be operations in nearby Tawi Tawi province, where Abu Sayyaf has staged attacks.
Government troops would focus on hitting the groups of remaining Abu Sayyaf leaders Radulan Sahiron and Isnilon Hapilon, two of the likely successor to Janjalani, and more than 300 rebels fighting with top Indonesian terror suspects Dulmatin and Umar Patek.
Attacks
Government troops are on alert to thwart any possible retaliatory attacks, military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Bartolome Bacarro said.
Suspected Abu Sayyaf rebels opened fire on three trucks of army troops in Jolo's Parang town Saturday, setting off a gunbattle that killed one soldier and wounded seven others. The troops captured six of the attackers, the army said.
Janjalani's death was confirmed after DNA tests in the US compared tissue samples taken from remains found buried last month in the jungles near Jolo's Patikul town with those of Janjalani's imprisoned brother. Janjalani was wounded in a September 4 clash with troops and later died, the military said.
The US Embassy, which offered a US$5 million bounty for Janjalani, welcomed news of his death as "an important and positive step forward" in ultimately eradicating the Abu Sayyaf and in destroying its links with foreign terrorist groups.
US forces have provided combat training and weapons, including night-vision goggles, to Filipino troops battling the Abu Sayyaf. They have also helped track down militants with high-tech surveillance equipment but have not engaged in direct combat, the Philippine military says.
Janjalani and his key commanders have been accused of several deadly attacks in the Philippines, including a 2004 bombing that gutted a ferry, killing 116 people in one of Southeast Asia's worst terrorist strikes.
They also carried out mass kidnappings, including the abduction of 17 Filipinos and three American tourists - missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham and Guillermo Sobero - from southwestern Palawan island in May 2001.
Sobero was beheaded by the militants and Martin was killed during a military rescue in June 2002. (AP)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Manila. (January 22, 2007 issue)
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