Troops comb Sulu’s jungles, islands in Sayyaf hun

From the Mindanao Examiner (Apr 13, 2019): Troops comb Sulu’s jungles, islands in Sayyaf hunt

Government troops continue their assault on Abu Sayyaf lairs where security forces have been combing the hinterlands and islands in the southern province of Sulu.

Just recently, soldiers killed 2 pro-ISIS militants, but three infantrymen were also wounded in the clashes in Bangkal village in Patikul town. The military said one of those killed, known only by his alias Barak Ingog, allegedly helped carry out a twin suicide attacks by an Indonesian couple on a Catholic church in the capital town of Jolo in January this year that killed and wounded dozens of people, mostly civilians and soldiers.

The other slain militant, Nasser Sawadjaan, was a nephew of Abu Sayyaf leader Hajan Sawadajaan. The military did not say whether soldiers recovered the bodies of the slain militants, although it reported that troops recovered an M16 rifle in the area.

It said Ingog was one of the facilitators of the bombing of the Cathedral in Jolo town on January 27 this year while Sawadjaan was a nephew of Abu Sayyaf leader Hajan Sawadjaan.

There were no reports of civilian casualties, but Governor Toto Tan has deployed social workers and dispatched food aid since March to assist villagers who were affected by the military campaign. It was unknown whether the regional government had sent aid to Sulu, one of 5 provinces under the newly-created Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

https://mindanaoexaminer.com/troops-comb-sulus-jungles-islands-in-sayyaf-hunt/