Philippine troops attacked Abu Sayyaf’s hideouts yesterday in the southern Basilan island, initiating a clash between two troops. There are at least three of the Abu Sayyaf members were killed who were believed to have been involved in the 2011 kidnapping of an American woman and her teenage son. Report said that Ajanti and two of his followers were killed in the clash and five from the rebels were wounded. In the latest update, 8 of the military members were wounded.
The military operation happened at the village of Ungkaya in Pukan town around 1 p.m. when two platoons of soldiers from government's 18th Infantry Battalion assisted by the military intelligence on their way to track down the Abu Sayyaf and met the group.
The operation targeted Abu Sayyaf sub-leader Sulaiman Ajanti, who is now the leader of the militants. Ajanti was suspected behind the atrocities in Basilan and Zamboanga City including the kidnapping of Gerfa Yeatts Lunsmann and her then 14-year-old son.
Junsmann is a Philippine-born woman who was adopted as a child by an American couple. She was released by the Abu Sayyaf Group after 2 ½ months from her captivity while her teenage son escaped after five months.
The Abu Sayyaf Group, which has been organized in 1990, is a group 300 armed fighters, but later on divided into several groups. They vowed to stand for jihad, or holy war, but the early combat deaths of its key leaders led the group on a path of criminality. It has been crippled by government, military operations, but withstands largely due to kidnap for ransom activities.
As of now, the bandit holds about 10 hostages, including two German tourists seized in April and two birdwatchers, one Dutch and the other Swiss, who were abducted two years ago.
Malaysia, meanwhile, has executed a dusk-to-dawn curfew in waters near six districts in Sabah state on Borneo Island, where Abu Sayyaf gunmen from the southern Philippines stages kidnapping. - philstar
