ZAMBOANGA CITY – Three gunmen exploded an improvised bomb and shot two soldiers manning an army outpost, killing one of them in a daring broad daylight attack in Lamitan City in the southern Philippine province of Basilan, officials announced Wednesday.
Photos released by the Western Mindanao Command show the army outpost attacked by three gunmen in Lamitan City on Wednesday, August 30, 2021. The assault left two casualties.
The assault also wounded the other soldier and was airlifted to hospital in Zamboanga City, according to Maj. Gen. Generoso Ponio, chief of the Western Mindanao Command.
The attack occurred at around 8.50 a.m. on Tuesday, but the military only reported this before midnight the same day for a still unknown reason.
Ponio said the casualties are members of the 68th Infantry Battalion, adding the attackers also carted away the soldiers’ automatic rifle and escaped on a motorcycle. “Based on the initial investigation, three unidentified suspects on board a black Honda XRM were seen in the area when the explosion transpired,” he said.
Ponio, who condemned the attack, ordered troops to track down the gunmen. “Troops continue to exhaust all efforts to assist the police in the conduct of investigation and pursuit operations. We will continue to intensify our efforts to identify and neutralize the perpetrators and prevent the recurrence of similar incidents,” he said.
No individual or groups claimed responsibility for the attack, but the pro-ISIS group Abu Sayyaf is operating in Basilan, one of five provinces under the Muslim autonomous region. The terrorist group is largely blamed by the military for the spate of attacks in the province and other areas in the South.
In May, soldiers killed three Abu Sayyaf gunmen in a firefight in Basilan’s Sumisip town, about 65 kms from Lamitan City.
And last month, the SITE Intelligence Group reported that an Abu Sayyaf-linked account has called for new fighters and provided guidelines for aspiring jihadists and promoting the pursuit of “martyrdom.”
A screenshot of the account also shows this warning “As long as we are alive, kuffar is our enemy.” Kuffar or Kafir is an Arabic term which refers to a person who disbelieves in God or denies the authority of God. It is often translated as infidel, unbeliever, nonbeliever or pagan.
The report, released August 12, is only accessible to subscribers of the SITE Intelligence Group, an American non-governmental organization that tracks online activity of white supremacist and jihadist organizations. It was previously known as the Search for International Terrorist Entities Institute.
Filipino authorities could not confirm the report, but the SITE Intelligence Group has previously reported ISIS attacks in the Philippines and among them were the twin
suicide bombings of the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cathedral in Sulu province in January 2019 that killed and wounded dozens of soldiers and civilians. And the suicide attack of a Moroccan ISIS soldier Abu Katheer al Maghribi in Lamitan City in July 2018 that killed at least a dozen soldiers manning a roadblock. (Mindanao Examiner)
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