POLICE commandos stormed a hideout of suspected Abu Sayyaf bandits blamed for kidnappings and extortion, triggering a firefight that led to the killing of two gunmen and the capture of six others, officials said.
Chief Supt. Getulio Napeñas, National Police Special Action Force commander, said on Monday his men raided a house Zamboanga City where an Abu Sayyaf sub-leader and his followers were believed to be hiding.
A policeman was wounded in the clash that ensued, while three suspected bandits were arrested, Napeñas added in his report to the National Police chief, Director General Alan M. Purisima. Four pistols and three grenades were recovered at the site.
Three other suspected bandits were arrested in a follow- up operation in the city, Napenas said. All six arrested men were taken to the police headquarters in Zamboanga City for interrogation.
On Sunday security forces also captured a wanted Abu Sayyaf gunman during an operation in Basilan province, near Zamboanga City. A day earlier, Marines patrolling a wooded area near a hill in Sulu province’s mountainous Patikul town stumbled on about 30 Abu Sayyaf fighters. An ensuing 30-minute clash killed one militant and wounded an undetermined number of other gunmen, the Marine brigade commander in the area, Brig. Gen. Martin Pinto, said.
The Abu Sayyaf, which has been blamed for beheadings and deadly bombings, has been blacklisted by Washington as a terrorist organization. It is one of at least three armed Islamic groups outside of a peace deal the government signed last month with the main insurgent group in the south, the 11,000-strong Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
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