ZAMBOANGA CITY – Security forces clashed Tuesday with pro-ISIS militant groups in the southern Philippine province of Sulu that killed an Abu Sayyaf fighter and wounded 2 policemen, officials said.
Officials said the fighting simultaneously erupted on Simisa Island off Banguingi town and in Patikul town. Philippine Marines killed one gunman in Simisa where troops had been pursuing since last month a group of Abu Sayyaf gunmen hiding on the forested island.
Lt. Gen. Arnel Dela Vega, chief of the Western Mindanao Command, said members of the 3rd Marine Company, recovered the body of the still unidentified militant, including an M1 rifle, following a firefight that lasted about 15 minutes.
Dela Vega said there was no report of military casualties and he vowed to destroy the Abu Sayyaf. “The Joint Task Force Sulu continuously employ more pressure on the remaining Abu Sayyaf bandits to gain more enemy strongholds and armaments. We believe that a number of the bandits were wounded and probably could have died due to loss of blood after the encounter especially that our troops are still pursuing them as of this report,” he said.
But while vowing to finish off the militant group blamed for the series of ransom kidnappings of fishermen off Sabah in Malaysia and the spate of terror attacks, Dela Vega also called on Abu Sayyaf fighters to surrender peacefully. “While operations are vigorously undertaken to neutralize the remaining bandits, we still encourage other Abu Sayyaf members to lay down their arms in order to finally have peace in Sulu,” he said.
Security forces also clashed with Abu Sayyaf fighters in the village of Kan Ague in Patikul town. Two policemen were wounded in the fighting, according to Dela Vega.
He said soldiers and policemen were escorting a group of teachers when about 10 militants attacked them in the village, sparking a firefight. “The police personnel were escorting the teachers from Jolo town to the village of Taung, Patikul when they chanced upon the bandits. The exchange of fires resulted to the wounding of two policemen while casualties of the enemy side are yet to be determined,” Dela Vega said.
He did not say if any of the teachers were wounded in the firefight. The wounded policemen were rushed to hospital in the capital town of Jolo as security forces pursued the militants in Patikul’s hinterlands.
The Abu Sayyaf is still holding nearly dozen mostly Malaysian and Indonesian fishermen kidnapped for ransom off Sabah and has recently threatened to executive 3 captives if ransoms running into tens of millions of pesos are not paid by Jakarta or Kuala Lumpur. No deadline has been set for the execution of 2 Indonesians and a Malaysian fisherman. (The Zamboanga Post)
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