3 soldiers wounded in clash with Sayyaf

From The Manila Times (Sep 22, 2020): 3 soldiers wounded in clash with Sayyaf (By Al Jacinto)  

Three soldiers were wounded in a firefight with pro-Islamic State fighters from the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) in the southern Philippine province of Sulu, according to security officials .

The officials on Monday said the clash erupted in the village of Bungkaong in Patikul town, a known stronghold of the ASG and where members of the 45th Infantry Battalion are operating.

Brig. Gen. William Gonzales, commander of the anti-terror Joint Task Force Sulu, said the weekend fighting lasted 45 minutes.

He added that troops fought over a dozen gunmen, but it was not immediately known if there were casualties on the side of the Abu Sayyaf.

The ASG is blamed by the military and the police as behind the spate of deadly terror attacks in Sulu, one of five provinces under the troubled Muslim autonomous region.

“Three of our soldiers were slightly wounded in the encounter and we pray for their fast recovery,” Gonzales said, adding, “The casualties on the enemy side are yet to be determined.”

Lt. Gen. Corleto Vinluan Jr., chief of the Western Mindanao Command, said the operations against the Abu Sayyaf were ongoing and the troops were told to destroy the terrorist group.

“We sustain our focused military operations to destroy enemy strongholds and to thwart terror plots of the local terrorist group,” he added.

Vinluan called on the public to pray for the safety of the soldiers battling the terrorists.
“We call on our prayer warriors to continuously pray for the safety and protection of our soldiers,” he said.

Thousands of soldiers and policemen are deployed in Sulu where foreign terrorists are fighting alongside the Abu Sayyaf in an effort to put an Islamic State caliphate in the province.

On Saturday night, a patrolling team from the Philippine Coast Guard discovered an improvised bomb near the headquarters of the Maritime Police and the office of the Harbor Master.

Members of a police bomb squad disarmed the explosive, which was assembled from a rifle grenade and packed with concrete nails attached to a pair of blasting caps and a spark plug.

Last month, two women — one of them an Indonesian – – blew themselves near a military truck, killingseveral soldiers and civilians, and leaving scores of villagers wounded in what the military said was the handiwork of the Abu Sayyaf.

The ASG claimed responsibility for the blasts.

https://www.manilatimes.net/2020/09/22/news/regions/3-soldiers-wounded-in-clash-with-sayyaf/770483/