ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines, 19 August 2007— At least 15 soldiers and dozens of Abu Sayyaf gunmen were killed in fierce fighting yesterday in the southern Philippine island of Basilan, officials said.
As many as 17 soldiers were also wounded in the fighting that erupted in the remote town of Ungkaya Pukan after security forces assaulted an Abu Sayyaf camp, military officials in Zamboanga City said. Five of those killed were Marine officers.
A Philippine Air Force combat helicopter providing support for ground troops crashed off Basilan at the height of the fighting, killing its pilot.
Officials said the chopper’s co-pilot was rescued by naval patrols. The air force denied reports that the helicopter was shot down by rebels.
Yesterday’s battle was the bloodiest clash on Basilan since a July 10 ambush left 14 Marines dead, 10 of whom were beheaded. Last week, 27 army soldiers and 32 Abu Sayyaf gunmen were killed in separate clashes on Jolo Island, farther south. Troops recovered seven bodies of militants, including that of Puruji Indama, who was believed involved in the beheading of 10 Marines, in the July 10 firefight in Basilan’s Al-Barka town.
Other reports said as many as 30 Abu Sayyaf gunmen were killed, but this could not be independently confirmed.
Maj. Eugene Batara, a regional military spokesman, said there could be more enemy casualties, but the Abu Sayyaf may have taken away their dead.
The fighting was so intense that soldiers fought the Abu Sayyaf in close-quarter combat. The slain soldiers were under the Joint Task Force Thunder, which was formed to pursue the Abu Sayyaf and Moro rebels implicated in the beheading of soldiers in Al-Barka.
Lt. Gen. Eugenio Cedo, chief of the Western Mindanao Command, flew to Basilan Island to oversee the operation against the Abu Sayyaf.
Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro said the operation was undertaken in coordination with the local government in the area and the Muslim separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which is in peace negotiations with the government brokered by Malaysia.
“The Armed Forces of the Philippines will press the fight,” Bacarro said, praising the Marines’ “gallantry.”
A fragile 2003 cease-fire with the secessionist rebels, who have been fighting for a separate Muslim homeland in the country’s south for more than 30 years, was shaken last month by the July 10 gunbattle. A military investigation blamed the rebels and Abu Sayyaf militants for the killings.
The MILF said its own investigation showed it was a “legitimate encounter” because the Marines entered rebel territory without prior coordination. They also denied involvement in the beheadings, but did not say who was responsible.
The Philippine military is fighting on two fronts in the troubled south, one on Basilan Island and another on Jolo Island, where 27 soldiers were also killed by Abu Sayyaf gunmen and Moro National Liberation Front insurgents in fighting last week.
