GOVERNMENT security forces have overran two camps of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) in the hinterlands of Basilan province, military officials said on Monday, August 21.
Lieutenant General Carlito Galvez Jr., Western Mindanao Command chief, said the two camps of the Abu Sayyaf bandits were overran on Sunday, August 20, in the village of Mangalut, Akbar.
Galvez said the fallen camps belong to the group of Abu Sayyaf leader Nurhassan Jamiri.
Galvez added that the troops have recovered several improvised explosive devices and bomb-making components in one of the two fallen camps of the Abu Sayyaf.
Colonel Juvymax Uy, Joint Task Force Basilan commander, said they launched the offensive starting on Saturday, August 19, following intelligence report on the presence of the ASG bomb-making factory in the village of Mangalut.
Uy said five Abu Sayyaf bandits were killed in the ensuing firefight.
He said the troops are pursuing the Abu Sayyaf bandits who fled to the villages Buton and Seronggon, Mohammad Ajul, an adjoining town of Akbar. (SunStar Philippines)