ZAMBOANGA CITY, 16 November 2005 — Fighting in the southern island of Jolo subsided yesterday as government troops overran a camp of Abu Sayyaf extremists, officials said.
Troops were ordered to pursue the militants without letup but heavy rains hampered the offensive, allowing the extremists to vanish deep into the hinterlands of the troubled island.
Col. Domingo Tutaan, a spokesman for the military’s Southern Command, said troops captured the encampment in Indanan town and recovered assorted munitions for rockets and rifle grenades.
“Our forces recovered many spent shells of M203 grenade launchers, ammo for high power weapons, and blood-stained backpacks and other things,” he said.
Soldiers also destroyed several bunkers and trenches in the encampment.
He said only four soldiers were killed, not seven as earlier reported, and that 22 others were wounded in the fighting since Saturday.
Tutaan said military and human intelligence reports suggested that dozens of Abu Sayyaf and members of Nur Misuari’s faction of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) were killed and wounded in the clashes.
“The weather is big factor in the operation. And right now, heavy rains are hampering our operation, but this does not stop us from pursuing the terrorists,” said Brig. Gen. Alexander Aleo, the island’s military commander.
Aleo accused the MNLF rebels under commanders Khaid Ajibun and Haber Malik of aiding the Abu Sayyaf group, blamed by the government behind the series of terrorism and kidnappings in the south.
Rebel forces were reportedly harassing civilians in the two towns, forcing some to flee their villages. The exodus of civilians continue in Jolo because many were afraid that rebels would use them as shield against pursuing soldiers, officials said.
Social Welfare acting chief Lualhati Pablo said yesterday that some 900 people have fled their homes in Buanza village and are now sheltered in safer areas in Indanan.
Other reports said as many as 2,500 civilians were displaced by the fighting.
“We are looking into this, so we can assist the evacuees,” she said yesterday.
The fighting was triggered by an Abu Sayyaf attack on a marine patrol Friday in the village of Buanza and this spread the next day in nearby areas.
Aleo said his troops were pursuing Abu Sayyaf leaders in Jolo island, Albader Parad and Radulan Sahiron, and Umbra Jumdail Gumbahali, who are all included in Washington and Manila’s most wanted lists.
In February, at least 25 soldiers and some 120 MNLF and Abu Sayyaf militants had been killed in weeks of fierce clashes following a rebel attack on a military post in Jolo.
Most of the attackers were loyal supporters of jailed MNLF leader Nur Misuari.
Misuari formerly headed the MNLF that accepted limited autonomy and signed a peace deal with the government in 1996. But violence flared again in November 2001 after some 200 former rebels, backed by the Abu Sayyaf, attacked a major army base in Jolo.
Misuari later escaped to Malaysia where he was arrested and deported back to the Philippines. He was imprisoned on charges of rebellion, which carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, but thousands of his followers and supporters still maintain strongholds in Jolo, about 950 km south of Manila.
Many Abu Sayyaf militants were former MNLF members and are still loyal to Misuari and in many instances fought alongside with forces identified with the ex-rebel leader.
