ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Mar. 17, 2009) – At least three soldiers were killed and more than a dozen wounded as troops battled Tuesday Abu Sayyaf terrorists holding three Red Cross workers in Sulu province in the southern Philippines, officials said.
A still undetermined number of terrorists were believed killed and wounded in fierce fighting that began shortly before 6 a.m. in the hinterlands of Indanan town where the Abu Sayyaf is holding Swiss national Andreas Notter, Italian Eugenio Vagni and Filipino woman Mary Jean Lacaba.
The trio, all workers of the International Committee of the Red Cross, was kidnapped on January 15 after inspecting a water and sanitation project at a prison in Patikul town.
“Three of our soldiers are dead and 13 others were wounded in the fighting. We have reports that many Abu Sayyaf are killed and wounded in the clashes that began this morning at around 5.30 and the fighting is still going on,” Marine Lt. Gen. Nelson Allaga, commander of military forces in Western Mindanao, told the Mindanao Examiner.
He said there were no words about the fate of the hostages. “We have no words about them. We are fighting the Abu Sayyaf terrorists who are trying to break through the military cordon,” Allaga said.
Allaga said soldiers and policemen and village guards have surrounded the lair of the Abu Sayyaf to prevent them from escaping with their captives.
Fighting also erupted in the village of Buton Mahablo in the town of Parang that left four more soldiers wounded, said Lt. Steffani Cacho, a regional army spokeswoman. She said troops were on a combat mission when they clashed with Abu Sayyaf terrorists.
On Monday, troops clashed three times with Abu Sayyaf terrorists led by Albader Parad who was reported to have been shot and wounded or killed while trying to escape from the cordon around them.
The news of Parad’s death also triggered a massive search for his body by soldiers and armed civilians because of the huge rewards on his head.
The United States has offered as much as US$ 5 million for known Abu Sayyaf leaders under the Rewards for Justice System. Manila also set aside P100 million rewards for the capture of Abu Sayyaf terrorists and their leaders – dead or alive.
Philippine and US authorities linked the Abu Sayyaf to the spate of bombings in the southern Filipino region, including executions of civilians and kidnappings for ransom to raise fund and support its terror campaign.
The Abu Sayyaf has pillaged small towns, bombed passenger ships, commuter buses, Catholic churches and public places, including malls and department stores and killed hundreds of innocent people since the time it was founded in the early 1990s.
The Abu Sayyaf kidnapped 21 foreigners in a cross-border raid in Sabah, Malaysia in 2000 and ransomed off the hostages with the help of Filipino negotiators. It also beheaded one of three US citizens kidnapped in 2001 in the Philippines after failing to seek the release of Pakistani al-Qaeda bomber, Ramzi Yousef and radical Egyptian cleric Omar Abdel-Rahman, who inspired Yousef’s 1993 World Trade Center bombing. (Mindanao Examiner)
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