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As President-elect Rodrigo Duterte vowed to make the Abu Sayyaf pay for their crimes, three members of the group were killed in a clash with the soldiers in Sulu.
At least three Abu Sayyaf fighters have been killed and 10 others were wounded in a clash with government troops in Sulu, the military said Wednesday.
Some 16 soldiers were also wounded in the fighting in Patikul town, Maj. Filemon Tan, spokesman for the military’s Western Mindanao Command said in a statement.
Tan said troops from the 32nd Infantry Battalion encountered around 200 ASG gunmen in Sitio Bud Duwa Bayho, Barangay Pansul Tuesday afternoon, triggering a gun battle that lasted an hour and a half.
The wounded soldiers were taken to a hospital in Busbus, Jolo, he said.
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Addressing a meeting of business leaders in Davao City also on Tuesday, President-elect Rodrigo Duterte said there will soon be a “day of reckoning” with the Abu Sayyaf and promised to dismantle the group.
“I cannot do it just immediately,” Duterte told a meeting of businessmen in Davao City. “But there will be a time, there will be a reckoning. And when it comes, I will just say 'Surrender unconditionally. Release all prisoners, hostages or we fight’.”
The group has gained notoriety for ransom kidnappings, beheading hostages and bombings.
Read: Who are the Abu Sayyaf?
The Abu Sayyaf beheaded Canadian hostages Robert Hall and John Ridsdel after no ransom was paid to spare their lives. Hall and Ridsel were abducted from a resort on Samal Island in September 2015 along with Norwegian Kjartan Sekkingstad and Filipina Tess Flor. Sekkingstad and Flor are still being held by the terror group.
Related: PH gov't condemns ‘brutal and senseless’ murder of ASG hostage
The Abu Sayyaf are also holding three other hostages.
“AFP continues to intensify the conduct of focused military operations in Sulu to pin down the Abu Sayyaf Group and rescue the remaining hostages,” Tan said.
http://cnnphilippines.com/regional/2016/06/22/3-Abu-Sayyaf-members-killed-Duterte-day-of-reckoning.html
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