| 4 Abu rebs, 1 soldier dead in Sulu clash By Maritess Fernandez
ZAMBOANGA
CITY—Four suspected Abu Sayyaf gunmen and a soldier were killed in clashes in Sulu,
as troops continued to hunt down the terrorists still holding captive an American national
and a Filipino on the island province, the military Southern Command (Southcom) here said.
Military
officials also reported that 48 people on board a motorized banca were detained Sunday on
suspicion they were rebel supporters. They added soldiers seized firearms from the
suspects.
Southcom spokesman
Col. Fredesvindo Covarrubias said government forces over the weekend swooped down on a
suspected Abu Sayyaf hideout in Talipao town and killed one rebel.
Several others
managed to escape, he said, but Army soldiers continued tracking them down.
The group is still
holding American national Jeffrey Schilling and Roland Ullah, the last two hostages of the
more than 40 people, mostly foreigners, kidnapped by rebels since last April.
Covarrubias said
three other terrorists and an Army soldier were killed in a clash in the nearby town of
Indanan Saturday evening. Two soldiers were wounded in the fighting, he said.
“We have
repeatedly warned the rebels to surrender but they have ignored this. We want to send a
strong message to the Abu Sayyaf —release safely the hostages and surrender.
Otherwise, they will end up in cadaver bags,” Covarrubias said.
President Estrada
has ordered the military and the police to rescue the remaining hostages and neutralize
the terrorists.
In Northern
Mindanao, government troops killed one communist rebel and seized landmines and weapons in
a clash with the communist New People’s Army (NPA) rebels in Bukidnon province,
Covarrubias also reported.
Soldiers stormed a
rebel safehouse in remote Barangay Sampaguita in Kibawi town Sunday and clashed with a
band of rebels, killing one of them, Covarrubias said.
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