Basilan cops helping Army chase Abu Sayyaf who ambush soldiers

From the Philippine News Agency (Jan 22): Basilan cops helping Army chase Abu Sayyaf who ambush soldiers

Police in Basilan are helping the military track down a band of Abu Sayyaf members who ambushed and wounded seven members of the Army Scout Rangers Tuesday morning, police said.
Chief Supt. Noel Delos Reyes, police chief in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) who has jurisdiction over Basilan Philippine National Police (PNP), said he has ordered Basilan police director Sr. Supt. Mario Dapilloza, to help the military in pursuing the Abu Sayaff bandits.

A truckload of Scout Rangers belonging to the 18th Infantry Battalion, were returning to their battalion headquarters in Tipo-Tipo town in restive Basilan province when strafed by about 20 Abu Sayyaf bandits at 8:00 a.m.

The soldiers, led by a certain S/Sgt. Rosete of 12th Scout Ranger Company, returned fire and engaged the ambushers in a 30-minute firefight. Dapilloza could not say whether the bandits also suffered casualties in the firefight in Barangay Bohek Suyak.

The wounded soldiers were airlifted by helicopters to Camp Navarro General Hospital in Zamboanga City. Dapilloza said policemen have been sent to back up the soldiers in pursuing the ambushers who fled to the hinterlands of Tipo-Tipo.

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