Government forces have captured two camps of the Abu Sayyaf
Group (ASG) as fresh clashes ensued that resulted in the death of an ASG member
and injured four others in Basilan province, military officials said Wednesday.
Rear Admiral Reynaldo Yoma, Task Force Zambasulta commander,
said the clash broke out around 11 a.m. Tuesday while the troops were on law
enforcement operations at Sitio Penas, Barangay Pamatsaken, Sumisip, Basilan
province.
Yoma said the Abu Sayyaf brigands fled towards north
direction following a 15-minute firefight that injured one of the brigands,
Yusof Sandatan, based on information gathered by the troops.
Yoma said the bandits numbering around 25 people were led by
Juhaibel Alamsirul alas Abu Kik, a Basilan-based sub-leader of the ASG.
Yoma said that around 12:55 p.m., the troops conducted
counter-sniper operation when they came under enemy sniper fires as they
“inched their way in clearing the enemy position” in Baiwas-Pamatsaken area.
He said that another firefight ensued around 1:38 p.m. in at
Sitio Crossing, Barangay Baiwas, Sumisip, as the troops continued to clear the
area.
He said the number of the Abu Sayyaf members swelled to 50
as the group of Abu Kik was reinforced by the group of another ASG sub-leader
identified as Radzmil Janatul alias Abu Khubayb.
He said the firefight lasted for about two hours “with the
troops effectively conducting fire and maneuver and the employment of close-air
support” that forced the Abu Sayyaf brigands to flee towards west direction.
He said the brigands suffered one death and three others
wounded. The troops suffered zero casualties in the separate clashes.
He said the two ASG camps the troops have captured in
Barangay Baiwas, Sumisip can accommodate more or less 100 people.
Col. Rolando Joselito Bautista, commander of the
Basilan-based Army’s 104th Infantry Brigade, said the troops have also
recovered an improvised explosive device (IED) at the old school building in
Barangay Baiwas, Sumisip.
Bautista said the Abu Sayyaf brigands that figured Tuesday
in the series of firefight with the troops were responsible for the death of
six soldiers, including a junior officer, on November 2, 2014 in Barangay
Libug, Sumisip.
The troops who belong to the Army’s 64th Infantry Battalion
were providing security to the concreting of the Basilan circumferential road
when the bandits ambushed them.
Yoma said the law enforcement operations aimed to defeat the
lawless elements particularly the ASG will continue in coordination with the
police and local government officials in Basilan province.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=727496
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