ZAMBOANGA CITY, 10 August 2007 — Nine army soldiers were killed in an ambush yesterday in the southern Philippine island of Jolo, exactly a month after 14 Marines were slain in a gunbattle in nearby Basilan Island.
Military officials said the soldiers were traveling in a convoy to a food market in Maimbung town when they came under attack by suspected members of the extremist Abu Sayyaf group.
Maj. Eugene Batara, spokesman for the military’s Western Mindanao Command, said two other soldiers were wounded in the attack, which he described as “treacherous.”
He said the Al-Qaeda-linked insurgents took six M-16 rifles and a two-way radio from the soldiers from the 33rd Infantry Battalion before fleeing near the boundary of Indanan and Maimbung towns.
He said the deadly attack was not an indication that the Abu Sayyaf has regained strength following battle setbacks dealt by a massive US-backed offensive last year that led to the killing of its top two leaders, including Khaddafy Janjalani.
“They’ve been attacking our soldiers when they’re not in battle mode,” Batara also told The Associated Press by telephone from the regional military headquarters in Zamboanga City.
“They could not fight frontally. They’re treacherous,” he said.
It was the second major ambush on government troops in recent weeks.
Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) fighters believed to be backed by Abu Sayyaf militants attacked a military convoy on nearby Basilan island last month, killing 14 Marines, 10 of whom were beheaded.
Army spokesman Lt. Col. Ernesto Torres said about 100 insurgents were behind the Jolo attack and appeared to have been led by Radulan Sahiron, an elusive one-armed Abu Sayyaf commander long wanted by US and Philippine authorities for his alleged role in several terror attacks.
The ambush occurred just a day after troops killed at least 4 Abu Sayyaf militants in fierce clashes in Parang town, just east of Maimbung.
Regional military commander Maj. Gen. Eugenio Cedo ordered soldiers, backed by helicopter gunships, to pursue the attackers on Jolo, where US-backed forces have been hunting down remnants of Abu Sayyaf, which is on the US list of terrorist organizations.
A major military offensive that started in August last year against the Abu Sayyaf and a handful of Indonesian militants hiding on Jolo has largely eased following confirmation of the death of Janjalani and his presumed successor, Abu Sulaiman.
Beheading Suspect Surrender
Meanwhile, one of four alleged Basilan beaheaders surrendered yesterday to deny involvement in the decapitations.
Regional police chief Joel Goltiao said Bujari Jamiri, accompanied by a GMA-7 television news crew in Basilan, surrendered to authorities in Zamboanga City.
Basilan Rep. Wahab Akbar named Jamiri along with Nurhasan Jamiri, Jamiri, Suaib Kalibon and Umar Indama as among those who decapitated the fallen soldiers in Al-Barka town on July 10.
Leaders of the MILF, which is engaged in peace talks with the government, have owned up the attack but denied responsibility for the beheadings.
They said their fighters withdrew from the battle scene after representatives of the government and MILF agreed to a cease-fire.
Goltiao said Jamiri should have surrendered to the police or the court in Basilan, which issued arrested warrants against 127 suspects in the ambush and decapitations.
He said two of those included in the arrest warrants, both Muslim leaders, are also willing to surrender. The two also denied involvement in the grisly killings, he said.
The Commission on Human Rights (CHR), meanwhile, said some of those charged in the killing may be innocent.
“We have received reports that some of those charged in the killing of the soldiers are innocent civilians. We will investigate these reports to ensure the rights of the innocent,” lawyer Manuel Mamauag, CHR regional director for Western Mindanao, said. (With input from AP)
