Philippine troops close in on Abu Sayyaf:
military
ZAMBOANGA, Philippines, Oct 1
(AFP) - Philippine troops on Sunday tightened the noose around a mountain area on southern
Jolo island where Muslim extremists were believed to be holding 17 hostages, the military
said.
Armed forces spokesman
Brigadier General Generoso Senga said special action force commandos and army scout
rangers had encircled Mount Dahu and tightened security around Patikul and Talipao towns
to stop Abu Sayyaf rebels fleeing to coastal areas.
"We have narrowed the
general area where the rebels are believed to be hiding," Senga told AFP in a
telephone interview. "The area is also being cleared by troops."
Troop presence was also heavy
in several undisclosed hinterland villages, he added.
Infantry troops clashed with
Abu Sayyaf members in a fierce gunbattle near Mount Dahu in central Joho on Saturday,
leaving three rebels dead and one soldier wounded, Senga said.
The battle, which erupted late
afternoon and lasted into the evening, brought the total number of Abu Sayyaf rebels
killed to 114 since the Philippine government launched its rescue operation on September
16.
A senior Abu Sayyaf leader,
Radulan Sahiron, had earlier been reported killed while regional commanders Mujib Susukan
and Galib Andang alias "Commander Robot," were said to have been wounded.
Military intelligence agents
had been trying to verify the death claim but had so far been unable to confirm it.
The military has admitted that
four soldiers and three civilians had also been killed, while up to 63,000 Jolo residents
were evacuated to safer areas.
Colonel Hilario Atendido,
spokesman for the military's southern command, said the number dead from Saturday's clash
could be much higher and added that troops had been guarding the bodies in case the rebels
returned to retrieve them.
The gunmen were believed to be
members of an Abu Sayyaf faction, led by Susukan, and holding 12 Filipino hostages.
Up to three other rebel
factions, elsewhere in Jolo, hold three Malaysians, an American, and one other Filipino.
The hostages are believed to
have been scattered over several areas by their Abu Sayyaf captors, who were reportedly
running low on ammunition and straying into remote villages to forage for food.
Senga said all the hostages,
based on military reports, were still alive but being dragged from one jungle area to
another as the Abu Sayyaf tried to flee the assault.
"The only thing we can say
now is that all the hostages are still alive and in Jolo," Senga said.
The Abu Sayyaf in April
abducted 21 mostly foreign tourists from the Malaysian dive resort of Sipadan.
All but one of the Sipadan
hostages, a Filipino dive instructor, have since been freed after huge ransom payments,
but the rebels later snatched more hostages, including three Malaysians, two Frenchmen and
an American.
President Joseph Estrada,
frustrated by the seemingly never-ending kidnapping spree by the Abu Sayyaf, ordered the
military to launch a search and destroy operation against the group.
The offensive was supposed to
have taken only a week by earlier military estimates, but the military top brass have
since admitted comitting tactical mistakes.
The two French hostages escaped
on September 19 in the offensive's only significant success so far.
National police chief Director
General Panfilo Lacson on Saturday blamed air raids by the military for alarming the
rebels and allowing them time to disperse, thus making it harder for troops to track them
down.
He said a commando operation,
in which troops crept into the rebel lair in a surprise attack, would have worked better.
But Senga said the military
stood by its decision, stressing that "different commanders make different tactical
decisions."
He said Lacson's statements may
have been taken out of context and that he may just be explaining the "many ways by
which you conduct and operation."
Back to Sipadan/Pandanan Hostages News
Back
to This Week's Borneo News |
