Thousands deserting Sayyaf - military
ZAMBOANGA—Thousands
of guerrillas have deserted a Muslim terrorist group holding five hostages on Jolo island
because of pressure from a month-long military assault, an official said yesterday.
The Abu Sayyaf
membership has dropped to about 300 hard-core members from as many as 5,000 a few months
ago when the group was amassing huge ransom from freeing a number of foreign and Filipino
hostages, military spokesman Brig. Gen. Generoso Senga said.
“When they
felt a little pressure and fear because of the military operations, they started to
scamper,” Senga said.
Meantime, 10
armed-men abducted yesterday morning the dean of the College of Forestry of the Mindanao
State University, Col. Samuel Bagasin, 402nd brigade commander.
He said the
motives behind the abduction of Rodrigo Celdrino on the national highway leading to Iligan
City have not been established.
About 5,000 troops
launched an assault against the rebels on the remote southern island of Jolo Sept. 16 to
rescue five remaining
Hostages—three
Malaysians, a Filipino and American Jeffrey
Schilling
—and destroy the guerrilla group.
Since then,
government troops have killed, captured or forced the surrender of more than 300 rebels,
according to Senga. There have been 65 clashes, mostly initiated by the military.
In the latest
fighting, government troops killed at least three bandits in a clash Monday in the village
of Kabungkol in Panglima
Estino town on
Jolo, military officials said. More troops were deployed to the town yesterday.
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