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ZAMBOANGA CITY: At least five members of the Abu Sayyaf Group gunmen were killed and two soldiers wounded in fierce clashes on Wednesday in the southern Philippines’ Zamboanga Sibugay province, authorities said.
Authorities said clashes broke out in the village of President Roxas in the town of RT Lim, where security forces targeted a group of armed men fleeing a military operation in the nearby town of Alicia, where a gunman had dead and two soldiers and three civilians wounded. in the battle in the town of La Paz.
Lieutenant Colonel Don Templonuevo, commander of the 44th Infantry Battalion, whose group is hunting the terrorists, said five gunmen had been killed in recent clashes, but two soldiers were wounded in the skirmishes before dawn.
“This is the result of our persecution operations against the armed elements of Abral Abdusalam and the Sahibad Group led by Furuji Indama after our meeting in Barangay La Paz in Alicia, Zamboanga Sibugay at dawn on Sunday, September 6,” he added.
Templonuevo said troops recovered the bodies of the gunmen and their automatic weapons. The identities of the dead remain unknown, he said, adding that the soldiers clashed with at least 10 gunmen in the area.
“The pursuit operation is still ongoing,” Templonuevo said.
Citing intelligence reports, Brig. General Leonel Nicolas, commander of the 102nd Infantry Brigade, said the Abu Sayyaf gunmen based in Basilan were on a kidnapping mission.
On October 4, 2019, gunmen led by a rebel leader Abdul Alip of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front kidnapped Britton Allan Arthur Hyrons, 70, and his Filipino wife, Welma Paglinawan, in the city of Tukuran in Zamboanga del Sur. .
Alip delivered the couple to Abu Sayyaf in Sulu province, where the pro-Islamic State group demanded P50 million for the safe release of the victims. The victims were reportedly rescued by soldiers on November 25 after a clash with Abu Sayyaf.
The latest clashes coincided with the commemoration of the rebel attacks in the city of Zamboanga by the followers of the head of the Moro National Liberation Front, Nur Misuari, in 2013. The siege lasted three weeks and left hundreds dead and wounded. It was the second attack by the Misuari group in the city of Zamboanga since 2001.
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