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By Anthony Vargas Reporter
TWO army troopers were confirmed
killed and ten others were wounded in the latest series of clashes
between government troops and Abu Sayyaf (ASG) bandits in Basilan
Tuesday, the military said Sunday.
The military chief, Gen.
Hermogenes Esperon Jr., said the Abu Sayyaf have also sustained 10
casualties in the series of encounters, though no bodies have been
recovered.
“There’s a series of
encounters in Basilan. . . we have two deaths and 10 wounded. The
Abu Sayyaf also sustained heavy casualties, at least 10,” Esperon
told reporters in a chance interview in Camp Aguinaldo.
The military chief said the first
encounter took place about 7:45 a.m. at the town of Ungkaya Pukan
that was followed by another encounter at 1 p.m., while the last one
occurred about 2:40 p.m.
Abu Sayyaf members were seen
dragging their fallen comrades away from the battle site, said
regional military spokesman Major Eugene Batarra.
Intelligence reports indicated
they suffered several dead and wounded, he added.
The two soldiers killed were
members of Philippine special forces who were spearheading an
assault on a group of Abu Sayyaf led by Furuji Indama who were
involved in the July 10 ambush, said Brig. Gen. Arturo Ortiz, head
of the army special forces.
Esperon added that they were
verifying reports a stray bullet reportedly hit a student who was
caught in the crossfire between troops and bandits.
The military chief described the
series of encounters, the first during the Ramadan, between troops
and bandits as a very fierce one.
The army casualties are one each
from the Army’s 9th Special Forces Company and from the First
Scout Ranger Regiment (FSRR) that has also suffered 10 wounded
soldiers, the military chief.
Brig. Gen. Arturo Ortiz, Special
Forces Commander, said they are unsure if the bandit group, which
their troops have engaged, were protecting a high value target.
“Abu Sayyaf reinforcements
responded [coming] from different areas. We are not sure if they
[bandits] were protecting a high value target,” Ortiz told defense
reporters.
Brig. Gen. Reynaldo Ma-pagu, FSSR
commander said in another interview: “Our troops saw bodies of
slain Abu Sayyaf being carried away by their [retreating]
comrades.”
The Western Mindanao Command
spokesman, Major Eugene Batara, said Tuesday that one Abu Sayyaf
bandit was reportedly wounded in the said series of encounters.
While the Basilan Provincial
Police Office said that at least 11 soldiers and four civilians who
were caught in the crossfire were wounded in the said encounters.
The Special Forces and FSSR were
conducting joint combat patrol operations in the said area when they
chanced upon the bandit groups allegedly led by Furuji Indama, an
Abu Sayyaf commander.
Unverified reports have Indama
among those killed when troops assaulted an Abu Sayyaf camp in the
town of Ungkaya Pukan, Basilan on August 18. He is a suspect in the
beheading of 10 of 14 marines killed in an ambush on July 10 in
Basilan.
The last reported encounter
between troops and bandits took place on August 27 when troops
shelled Abu Sayyaf strongholds in the towns of Tipo-Tipo and Ungkaya
Pukan.
Since July, 57 government troops
and over 80 Abu Sayyaf bandits and rogue Moro rebels were killed and
dozens of others were injured in a series of fighting in Sulu and
Basilan.
The government fatalities in the
series of engagements include 14 marines killed, 10 of whom were
beheaded during an ambush in Barangay Guinanta in Al-Barka, Basilan,
on July 10.
Around 27 army troopers and more
than 30 Abu Sayyaf bandits were killed in three-days of fighting
between government troops and bandits in Sulu province early last
month.
The defense chief added that the
military would be deploying two engineering battalions to Sulu and
Basilan as part of the government’s humanitarian offensives.
--With AFP
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