09 November 2000 - ABS-CBN

ZAMBOANGA, (ABS-CBN) - Philippine troops overran a camp of Muslim extremist kidnappers in the southern island of Jolo, Sulu, killing an undetermined number of gunmen but still failing to find the bandits' two remaining hostages.

Soldiers stormed the lair belonging to the Abu Sayyaf in Indanan town on Tuesday, triggering fierce clashes, regional military spokesman Col. Hilario Atendido said Wednesday.

He said villagers later reported seeing the Abu Sayyaf guerillas dragging their dead and wounded comrades away as they fled into the surrounding jungle. There were no reported casualties on the government side.

Troops recovered rifles, kitchen utensils and military knapsacks freshly stained with blood at the camp, which was described as full of bunkers and running trenches, Atendido said.

There were however no signs of hostages American Jeffrey Schilling and Filipino Rolando Ullah, the last remaining captives being held by the rebels for nearly seven months.

Elite special forces troops are tracking down Abu Sayyaf remnants believed scattered into smaller groups, Atendido said.

The military earlier said that there were only a hardcore of about 100 fighters still sticking it out with the leaders of the Abu Sayyaf after President Joseph Estrada deployed some 5,000 policemen and soldiers to Jolo to retrieve a group of hostages last Sept. 16.

The Abu Sayyaf went on a kidnapping spree starting April, seizing dozens of foreign and local hostages from a beach resort in nearby Malaysia and bringing them to Jolo.

Most of the hostages have been released in exchange for huge ransoms but the bandits later took more hostages, including 12 Filipino Christian preachers, two Frenchmen and three Malaysians. They were all rescued weeks after the assault was launched.

The military said 162 Abu Sayyaf members have been killed, 125 were arrested and 213 have surrendered since the government operation began.

Probe
In related news, the Armed Forces Southern Command (Southcom) has sent a probe team to Patikul, Sulu to investigate the reported mortar shelling by the military which hit an evacuation center and left three evacuees wounded.

First Infantry "Tabak" Division commander Maj. Gen. Narciso Abaya said he has directed investigators to speed up the probe on the alleged mortar shelling last Nov. 1.

But he explained that the troops were running after Abu Sayyaf spokesperson Abu Sabaya's group who were sighted in the hinterlands of Patikul.

The official, however, said he would want to find out how the two 105 millimeter howitzers hit the Kambatan Elementary School in Barangay Darayan, Patikul where about 800 evacuees were housed.

Two of the wounded evacuees were in serious condition, the residents said. The evacuees' names were not divulged.

It was not clear who fired the mortars but residents said they doubted the shells came from the fundamentalist Abu Sayyaf rebels.

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