Four soldiers wounded, gunmen killed in Sayyaf clashes

From the Mindanao Examiner (Apr 3, 2022): Four soldiers wounded, gunmen killed in Sayyaf clashes

Zamboanga - Four soldiers were wounded and a still unknown number of gunmen were killed in fierce clashes with Abu Sayyaf militants in the southern island-province of Basilan, about 29 nautical miles south of here.

Officials said the fighting broke out over the weekend after troops launched a combat operation against the pro-Islamic State fighters in Sumisip town, a known stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf.

The military’s Western Mindanao Command also announced this on Sunday, quoting a report by the army commander on the island, Brig. Gen. Domingo Gobway, who said that an undetermined number of militants were believed killed in the fighting in Sucaten village.

The report said the fighting involved at least nine militants, who eventually withdrew but had been caught up by government reinforcements sparking a violent gun battle.

“The violent extremists withdrew shortly after the engagement, but responding government forces caught up with them while they were fleeing which led to another armed confrontation. Based on reports, the armed confrontations resulted in an undetermined number of casualties on the enemy side and the recovery of war materials including three M16A1 rifles, 20 long magazines, five short magazines, three bandoleers, and 619 rounds of M16 ammunition,” the report said.

No bodies of slain militants were recovered in the areas where the clashes occurred. Gobway said four soldiers were wounded in the firefight. “Battle casualties were immediately extricated from the area and were given proper medication. They are all in stable condition as of press time,” he said.

Lt. Gen. Alfredo Rosario, Jr., chief of the Western Mindanao Command, commended the soldiers – all under Gobway’s Joint Task Force Basilan - for “their selfless service and untiring dedication to their sworn duty.”

“The remaining members of the terror group who refuse to return to the fold of the law are doing desperate moves to gain popular support after they’ve lost it due to the neutralization of their top leader Radzmil Jannatul, Rosario said, referring to the Abu Sayyaf leader wanted by the United States for the for the kidnapping of an American woman, 43-year old Gerfa Yeatts Lunsmann, and her son, Kevin, 14; and a Filipino nephew Romnick Jakaria, 19, while on a holiday in Zamboanga on July 12, 2011.

The hostages were forced into boats at gunpoint, brought to Basilan and forced to march to a camp where they were held until September 2011. The kidnappers released the mother on October 2, 2011, but retained her son as a hostage, and demanded that she pay a large ransom for his freedom.

Jakaria managed to escape from his captors on November 13, 2011; and the teenager eventually escaped from his captivity on December 9, 2011. Jannatul and three other Abu Sayyaf fighters Indama, Muadz, and Abu Basim were indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice for the kidnappings.

The U.S. Embassy has not released any statement on Jannatul’s slaying, but Rosario said: “The military continues to intensify the conduct of combat and non-combat operations to end terrorism in Mindanao.”

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