Manila: The presidential palace said it fully supports the offensive against terrorist groups in Sulu as it quoted reports from the military that there were no civilian casualties in the drive.
"We have full trust in the actions of the AFP [Armed Forces of the Philippines]," deputy presidential spokeswoman Abigail Valte said in an interview aired by the government-run dzRB radio.
"The air strike was swift and without civilian casualties," she said as she referred to the attack carried out by the Philippine Air Force on a stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf and the Jemaah Islamiyah in Sulu's Parang town in southern Philippines. The attack was carried out reportedly with assistance from US forces stationed in Sulu.
"We do not treat them with kid gloves, there is no safe haven here," Valte said.
Air strikes carried out by air force bombers and helicopter gunships in Parang resulted in the deaths of three top terrorist leaders in the south.
It had long been known the Abu Sayyaf, which is based in Sulu and Basilan, had allied itself with the Jemaah Islamiyah, a group advocating violent struggle for the establishment of a pan-Islamic state made up of Malaysia, Indonesia and parts of Thailand and Muslim-dominated areas of the southern Philippines' Mindanao island.
In the air strike last Thursday, Armed Forces spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Arnulfo Burgos reported that among those killed were Zulkipli Bin Hir alias Marwan, Mohammad Ali Bin Abd Al Rahman alias Mauiyah of the Jemaah Islamiyah and Gambahali Jumdail alias Dr Abu of the Abu Sayyaf.
Bounty
Marwan, a Malaysian national, was accused of training the Abu Sayyaf in bomb-making. According to the US State Department's Rewards for Justice programme, a $5 million (Dh18 million) bounty was on his head. Reports said the military is looking for convincing evidence Marwan has been killed.
As to others reported killed in the air attack, Mauiyah, a Singaporean, carries a $50,000 bounty and Dr Abu a $140,000 bounty. Twelve other militants were also killed in the attack.
