Dozens of rebels killed in Sulu clash

Dozens of Abu Sayyaf guerrillas are believed to have died as government forces stepped up their offensive against the extremists in southern Sulu, the military said yesterday.

Brig. Romeo Tolentino, chief of army forces on Sulu's main island of Jolo, said yesterday that security forces clashed on Saturday with dozens of Abu Sayyaf fighters and renegade members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) who are loyal to their former chairman, Nur Misuari.

Brig. Tolentino said many rebels were killed in the clash in Mt. Tumatangis in the town of Indanan.
He stated that troops captured at least seven suspected rebels on a highway in Indanan town.

The army, he said, stormed a hide-out of the Abu Sayyaf and the MNLF Misuari-wing after villagers tipped off the military about the presence of gunmen in Mt. Tumatangis, regarded as a sacred area to Jolo's predominantly Muslim populace although the mountain is also the lair of the Abu Sayyaf group.

"We don't know how many rebels were killed, but my commanders reported a still undetermined number of enemy casualties. The bodies were taken away by fleeing guerrillas, but soldiers have recovered weapons and ammunition left behind by the group," Brig. Tolentino noted.

He said there were no reports of military casualties.

The seven captured rebels were undergoing interrogation by the army after former MNLF rebels-turned-soldiers caught them while fleeing a village in Indanan town in a jeep flying a red flag similar to that used by the Abu Sayyaf and the MNLF.

"Some of them turned out to be rebels while the others could probably be supporters. We are still interrogating them," Brig. Tolentino said.

Troops clashed with more than 40 rebels under Abu Sayyaf leader, Mujib Susukan. "There is an ongoing operation right now in Mt. Tumatangis," Brig. Tolentino noted, but he declined to elaborate on details of the offensive.

On Friday, soldiers attacked an Abu Sayyaf jungle hide-out near Patikul and nearly captured rebel leader, Galib Andang, but he was able to escape a military dragnet, Brig. Tolentino said.

Andang, also known as Commander Robot, led Abu Sayyaf rebels in raiding a resort across the border to Sipadan island and Malaysia where they took mostly foreign hostages.

Among the 20 hostages taken from Sipadan, only one Filipino, Sulu-native Roland Ullah, remains in captivity.

Apart from the Abu Sayyaf, soldiers are also searching for three kidnapped Indonesian sailors held hostage by sea pirates in Luuk town since June 17, after their cargo boat was hijacked by 11 gunmen off Jolo.

The boat was on its way to deliver coal to the central Philippine province of Cebu from Kalimantan when they were attacked.

The kidnappers originally demanded P200,000, but the ransom has increased to P 15-million ($300,000) after local officials and private groups negotiated with the gang's leader, Commander Malud.

Operations against the Abu Sayyaf have been stepped up in Sulu where the remnants of the extremist group, that is notorious for kidnapping of civilians including foreigners, are believed to have sought refuge.

Early last year, U.S. training advisers arrived in the Abu Sayyaf stronghold of Basilan, some 150 kilometres west of Sulu, to train local troops on the use of more modern weaponry to combat the extremist group.

Both Manila and Washington have linked the Abu Sayyaf to international extremist elements suspected to be behind the September 11 attacks.