| 3 more Abu bandits slain by troopers By Manny B. Marinay
ABU Sayyaf
terrorists holding an American and a Filipino hostage clashed again with soldiers on Jolo
Island, leaving three rebels dead and one soldier wounded, the military said yesterday.
Two other
members of the extremist Abu Sayyaf group were wounded in a separate clash on another
southern island Wednesday, said Army Maj. Rudolf Roderick Bunao.
Bunao said
soldiers continuing an operation to rescue the two captives encountered about 90 Abu
Sayyaf gunmen in a village in Indanan on Jolo island Wednesday, triggering a two-hour
gunfight. One soldier was injured in the clash.
The rebels then
split into smaller groups and retreated into the jungle, Bunao said.
The military,
meanwhile, claimed it has decimated half of the Abu Sayyaf strength since launching an
operation to rescue 19 hostages on Sept. 16. Seventeen of the captives have either been
rescued or escaped, leaving only American Jeffrey Schilling and Filipino Roland Ullah
still in the hands of the terrorists.
AFP spokesman
Brig. Gen. Generoso Senga placed the current strength of the terrorists group at 75 to 200
men.
He said the Abu
Sayyaf’s core group was estimated between 300 to 400 men before the military
campaign.
The bandits
recruited more than 3,000 men as lookouts after receiving some $15 million in ransom money
for the freedom of Western hostages, Senga said, adding that most of the recruits have
however fled.
The Armed Forces
said that its Jolo campaign as of yesterday has yielded 179 dead bandits, 11 wounded and
173 captured.
Some 232 bandits
have surrendered.
Senga said the
military would try to complete its twin missions of crushing the Abu Sayyaf and rescuing
the two remaining hostages –Schilling and Ullah – by Christmas.
He said while some
of the 4,000 troops used in the campaign have been pulled out of Sulu, the intensity of
the military operation remains.
Senga could not
say the exact number of recalled troops.
The military had
rescued two French journalists, three Malaysians and 12 prayer warriors from the Jesus
Miracle Crusade (JMC) led by Brother Wilde Almeda.
Senga said there
are indications that Schilling and Ullah, along with the Abu Sayyaf leaders led by Ghalib
Andang alias Commander Robot, are still in Sulu.
Schilling
In a radio
interview Tuesday, Schilling, a Muslim convert from Oakland, California, said he is being
kept in chains and is losing hope he will be released.
Ullah, the
longest-held hostage, was seized in April along with 20 other tourists and workers from
the Malaysian resort of Sipadan and brought to Jolo.
The rebels later
abducted scores of other hostages.
The other Sipadan
hostages were released in separate groups in exchange for more than $15 million in ransom,
hostage negotiators said.
Schilling is being
held by an Abu Sayyaf faction that was based on Basilan island, north of Jolo.
On Wednesday
soldiers fought a brief battle with the rebels in Tuburan town on Basilan. Two rebels were
wounded but escaped.
Soldiers recovered
homemade land mines, weapons, rice, canned goods and a medical kit left behind by the
rebels in their escape.
On Tuesday,
soldiers engaged the rebels in a battle in the jungles of Talipao town on Jolo, leaving
six Abu Sayyaf members dead. One soldier was wounded. Another Abu Sayyaf member was killed
when a government patrol encountered a rebel band in the town of Panglima Estino, also on
Jolo, the military said.
with AP
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