Hunt Continues Vs. Sayyaf Terrorists In Basilan Island

Philippine Navy Seals prepare their equipment as US troops relax Tuesday, December 9, 2008 inside the naval headquarters in Zamboanga City in Mindanao. Five Filipino marines were killed and two dozen more wounded in fierce clashes with Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels over the weekend in Basilan island, south of Zamboanga City. Five marines and three rebels were killed in the fighting, the military says. US troops are deployed in the southern Philippines to help the local military defeat terrorism.

And an unidentified marine soldier shows his shrapnel wounds to Navy Commodore Alexander Pama, while Philippine Marines chief General Mohd Dolorfino and Western Mindanao military commander General Nelson Allaga look on at a hospital inside the military's Western Mindanao Command in Zamboanga City on Tuesday, December 9, 2008. While Marine Captain Jolie Palanca answers questions from journalists. Palanca is among 24 soldiers wounded in fierce clashes with Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels over the weekend in Basilan island, south of Zamboanga City. Five marines and three rebels were killed in the fighting. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)

BASILAN, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Dec. 9, 2008) – Military operations continued Tuesday in Basilan island against the Abu Sayyaf group, blamed for the spate of attacks and kidnappings in the southern Philippines.

Soldiers were tracking down Abu Sayyaf militants in Al-Barka town, a known stronghold of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the country's largest Muslim rebel group.

Fierce fighting already broke out between troops and rebels that left five marines and three MILF mujahideen dead, including Sattar Alih, a senior member of the group's cease-fire monitoring team. Two dozen soldiers and six rebels were also wounded in the fighting over the weekend in Al-Barka town.

Three of the country's most senior military commanders on Tuesday inspected the wounded troops at a hospital in Zamboanga City and later went to Basilan island where they met with local commanders.

"Our operation is intended to neutralize the Abu Sayyaf and it will continue without let-up. Our goal is to flush out the terrorists and bring back peace in Basilan," said Marines chief General Mohammad Dolorfino.

Dolorfino, accompanied by Western Mindanao military commander General Nelson Allaga and Navy Commodore Alexander Pama, inspected troops in Basilan.

Allaga said the MILF was dragged into the fighting after rebels attacked government forces pursuing the Abu Sayyaf in Al-Barka town. "They attacked our soldiers and fighting erupted," he said.

He warned the MILF not to interfere with the military operations against the Abu Sayyaf.
Local military commander Brigadier Rustico de Leon has previously accused the MILF of coddling the Abu Sayyaf.

De Leon said the rebels were sheltering the militants inside MILF camps in Al-Barka. Rebels were also protecting the Abu Sayyaf in the towns of Tipo-Tipo and Ungkaya Pukan, an accusation the MILF strongly denied.

Eid Kabalu, a senior MILF leader, said the government forces were targeting the rebels in the guise of pursuing the Abu Sayyaf. He said the soldiers violated a fragile cease-fire signed by the MILF and the government in 2001 when President Gloria Arroyo opened up peace talks.

Peace talks collapsed in August after the failed signing of the territorial land deal that would have granted more than four million Muslims their own homeland in Mindanao. (Mindanao Examiner)