Suspected Abu Sayyaf militants detonated an improvised
explosive on Tuesday and killing at least one government soldier and wounding
about 5 others as sporadic clashes continued in Basilan province in the Muslim
autonomous region.
Military reports said the blast occurred on a village in
Tipo-Tipo town where troops are battling militants, tagged as behind the spate
of ransom kidnappings in southern Philippines
The Islamic State has called on its supporters in Southeast
Asia to head to the Philippines
and fight for the establishment of a caliphate if they cannot go to Syria or Iraq
There were no reports of Abu Sayyaf casualties in the latest
fighting, but military propaganda said dozens of militants had been killed and
injured in government offensives in Basilan and in nearby Sulu, also in the
Muslim autonomous region, but troops failed to recover the cadavers of those
reportedly slain in the assaults that began early this month.
The new Philippine military chief Ricardo Visaya has
recently visited troops in Zamboanga City and was brief by army commanders on
the progress of the offensives against the Abu Sayyaf which is still holding at
least a dozen foreigners kidnapped in the southern region and in nearby Sabah
in Malaysia.
President Rodrigo Duterte said he is considering
imposing martial law in the two Muslim provinces to address the security
problems posed by the radical group. Duterte said he also need to get the
commitments of the Moro National Liberation Front – which signed a
peace deal with Manila in 1996 – before he starts dealing with the
ISIS-affiliated Abu Sayyaf group.
Duterte has asked the public for more time to deal with the
extremist group that already beheaded a Malaysian and two Canadian hostages in
Sulu where the MNLF is actively operating.
“Just give me the luxury of time; I cannot do it
just immediately. There are things which I need which we do not have now. 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, but
I have to have a firm commitment from our brother Moro about the
continuity of the talks, hayaan na muna iyan, huwag silang sumama.”
“As soon as I get that guaranty na talagang peaceful ang
intentions ninyo and you are not protecting terrorists and when I have it in my
hands, I will be ready to confront and if we confront them, we’ll confront
them, tapusin na talaga natin para wala ng gulo so that, my dream is really
that one day all Filipinos, we just say Filipinos and we do not at
all mention he’s left or right, he’s a Moro rebel or a Moro terrorist,” Duterte
said.
Duterte said he also wanted to meet with MNLF chieftain Nur
Misuari in Sulu. Misuari is wanted by authorities in connection to the siege of
Zamboanga City
http://mindanaoexaminer.com/sayyaf-detonates-explosive-injures-soldier-in-basilan-province/
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