Police tag Abu Sayyaf behind ambush in Southern Philippines

From the Mindanao Examiner blog site (Jan 14): Police tag Abu Sayyaf behind ambush in Southern Philippines

Police have tagged the Abu Sayyaf as behind the recent ambush on a convoy of patrol cars in the southern Philippine province of Sulu.

Gunmen ambushed the convoy in Luuk town and sparked a 45 minute firefight that wounded three policemen.

Senior Superintendent Abraham Orbita, the provincial commander, who was in the convoy, said they were attacked by a small band of Abu Sayyaf gunmen that eventually swelled to about 400 after armed supporters of the terror group blocked the village of Tanduh Bato to prevent them from getting out.

He said two wanted Abu Sayyaf gunmen have been positively identified by the police as among those who ambushed them. The fighting was so fierce that police managed to hold their ground until police reinforcement arrived, but the gunmen broke into smaller groups and dispersed.

Some of those who survived the ambush also denied media reports released by the military in Sulu that the clash was between police forces and government militias. The military also said that soldiers were accompanying the police convoy when it was attacked and that the clash was only brief.

The military also said that the wounded policemen were rushed to a marine hospital in Jolo town, but the police dismissed all military statement and claimed the reports were simply not true.

“We were on our own and we stood our ground and fought the attackers for 45 long minutes. Our wounded were brought to a civilian hospital in Jolo,” one policeman said. “Higher authorities can investigate or ask my companions or our superiors so they would know the truth.”

In May 2009, the police commander of Sulu, Senior Superintendent Julasirim Kasim and three of his aides and a brother, were killed in an ambushed staged by Abu Sayyaf group in Maimbung town.

Kasim had been in the front line in battling the Abu Sayyaf.

The Abu Sayyaf, which means “Bearer of the sword,” has been linked by authorities to the al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiya and is blamed on the spate of bombings in the southern Philippines.

http://mindanaoexaminer.blogspot.com/2014/01/police-tag-abu-sayyaf-behind-ambush-in.html