Army Soldier Killed In New Jolo Ambush

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Zamboanga Journal / 05 Jul) Unidentified gunmen shot dead an army soldier in an attack on Jolo island in the southern Philippines, a known stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf group tied to Jemaah Islamiya terror network, security officials said.

Officials said the soldier was heading home on a motorcycle when two gunmen ambushed him early Tuesday evening in the village of Kasalamatan in Jolo town.

"Subject enlisted man sustained multiple gunshot wounds that caused his instantaneous death," Captain Jose Ritche Pabilonia, a spokesman for the military's Southern Command, told the Zamboanga Journal.

No groups or individual claimed responsibility for the attack, but the killing came just three days after suspected Abu Sayyaf militant ambushed two army soldiers near the village of Anuling in Jolo's Patikul town. The soldiers were riding on a motorcycle when gunmen opened fire on them.

Last week, soldiers also disarmed powerful homemade bomb planted near a government school in Jolo's Kalingalang Kaluang town. The bomb was planted just 50 meters outside the Pitogo Elementary School, the military said.

Authorities blamed the Abu Sayyaf group for the spate of killings, bombings and kidnappings on the island, about 950 km south of Manila.

The United States has offered as much as $5 million bounty for known Abu Sayyaf commanders, including its chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani, and Manila also put up P100 million bounties for the capture of the group's leaders and their members dead or alive.

The US included the group on its list of foreign terrorist organizations alongside with the al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiya.