An army soldier guides a military armored vehicle in the southern Philippine island of Jolo. Fighting between security forces and Abu Sayyaf on Wednesday 23 Aug 2006 leaves one militant dead and four soldiers wounded, officials say. (Mindanao Examiner)
JOLO ISLAND (Mindanao Examiner / 23 Aug) Security and Abu Sayyaf forces clashed Wednesday in Jolo island in the southern Philippines, leaving one militant dead and four soldiers wounded, as troops mounted fresh assault against the group blamed for the series of terrorism and kidnappings in the restive region, officials said.
"An Abu Sayyaf militant is killed, but four of our soldiers are also wounded. Military operation is going on against the Abu Sayyaf," Lt. Col. Susthenes Valcorza, a spokesman for the military's Southern Command, told the Mindanao Examiner.
Valcorza did not say where the fighting occurred, but other security officials said troops were pursuing the Abu Sayyaf in the hinterlands of Patikul, Talipao and Indanan, sites of previous clashes in Jolo that left more than a dozen soldiers wounded.
Major General Gabriel Habacon, Southern Command chief, awarded medals Monday to the soldiers who were recuperating at a military hospital in Zamboanga City.
"These medals speak of your bravery and dedication to duty and I commend all of you for fighting terrorism. We will crush and defeat terrorism and bring back peace in our land," he told the soldiers at the Camp Navarro Hospital inside the Southern Command base.
Habacon said security forces were relentless in the hunt for the Abu Sayyaf and two Jemaah Islamiya bombers Umar Patek and Dulmatin, who were believed with the group of local terrorists on Jolo island.
"There is operation going on in Jolo island and troops are pursuing the terrorists. The government offensive will not stop until we destroy the leaders of the Abu Sayyaf and two Jemaah Islamiya bombers," he said, referring to Patek and Dulmatin, tagged as behind the 2002 Bali bombings.
The Philippine military tightened security in Jolo island after troops last week seized 6,000 blasting caps and ten sacks of ammonium nitrate used by the Abu Sayyaf group to manufacture improvised explosives.
The military said a man, Mujahiri Malik, who was allegedly transporting the explosives, was arrested, but his companion, a woman, had escaped and is being hunted by security forces.
The United States offered as much as $10 million bounty for Dulmatin and $1 million for Patek's capture and another $5 million for known Abu Sayyaf leaders, including Khadaffy Janjalani, its chieftain. President Gloria Arroyo also put up P100 million rewards for the capture of the group's leaders and their members dead or alive.
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