ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines,11 August 2007 — Clashes between troops and Muslim militants have killed at least 57 people and wounded 42 on volatile southern Jolo Island this week, the Philippine military said yesterday.
The death toll included 25 soldiers and 27 militants killed Thursday when suspected Abu Sayyaf extremists ambushed a truck carrying troops headed to get supplies, then fought a running gunbattle with soldiers in pursuit, said Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro, the military’s spokesman.
“As far as I can remember, this is our biggest casualty in a day,” Bacarro told reporters. Ten soldiers and 25 militants were wounded in Thursday’s clashes, he added.
“We are not going to give up because we have suffered casualties,” military Chief of Staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon said. “These are the people who have been beheading people... and so we want to go after them even at the expense of the lives of our soldiers because that is our duty.”
He said President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, was “very concerned” about the number of government casualties and directed the military to review its operational policies in the battlefield.
Early Thursday, the insurgents ambushed members of the army’s 33rd Infantry Battalion who were on their way to get supplies in Indanan township, killing 10 soldiers and wounding one, Bacarro said.
Late in the afternoon, troops from the same battalion encountered about 120 Abu Sayyaf militants and rogue members of the Moro National Liberation Front, a rebel group that signed a peace agreement with the government 11 years ago, Bacarro said.
Heavy fighting broke out and running skirmishes, backed by four military attack helicopters, left 15 more soldiers dead and nine wounded.
The militants were led by Abu Sayyaf commanders Albader Parad, Abu Pula, and Radullan Sahiron, an elusive one-armed commander long wanted by US and Philippine authorities for his alleged role in several terror attacks, officials said.
Bacarro said the military is trying to verify reports that one of the five slain militants whose bodies have been recovered was the son of Pula and another was a close aide of Sahiron.
The skirmishes on the island began earlier in the week. On Tuesday, two platoons of troops clashed with about 50 Abu Sayyaf members in Indanan township, wounding two Marines.
The next day, army troops engaged the militants in a 30-minute firefight in Parang township, killing one soldier and wounding five others. The Abu Sayyaf suffered four dead.
“All in all... starting from the Aug. 7 encounter... till late last night, the Armed Forces of the Philippines suffered 26 killed in action and 17 wounded in action,” Bacarro said. “About 31 ASG (members) were killed and 25 wounded.”
The military estimates that Abu Sayyaf, which has been blamed for deadly bombings and high-profile ransom kidnappings, has about 300 to 400 guerrillas, down from more than 1,000 during its heyday in early 2000.
Local officials said Jolo had been tense because the military had begun collecting unlicensed firearms from villagers. The Tausug tribe that dominates the local population prizes weapons. Discontent has also been simmering among MNLF cadres because the government is close to signing a deal with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). The MNLF says the government should first fulfill obligations due to it from the 1996 agreement. — Additional input from agencies
