Posted on 06/29/2002 7:50:18 PM PDT by Black Powder
MANILA, Philippines (AP) - A major battle was under way Friday against the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf group in the southern Philippines, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said. Arroyo prefaced a major policy speech on utility reform with a brief statement that troops were going after the group's top two leaders and already had overrun four Abu Sayyaf camps.
"We are now having a major battle in Sulu, right in the camp where the Abu Sayyaf was born," Arroyo said.
A military source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the fighting was a continuation from a clash Thursday between 200 Philippine army scout rangers and about 150 Abu Sayyaf extremist guerrillas tracked by U.S. surveillance planes on the southern island of Jolo, in Sulu province.
An army officer was killed and six others wounded in the 30-minute gun battle with rebels believed led by Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khaddafy Janjalani, who is on a list of Philippine terrorists wanted by the United States.
More troops were deployed to the area in a drenching rain Friday. The area is "thickly vegetated" and offers cover and "a lot of high ground and exit points" where rebels can escape, the source said.
Southern Philippine military commander Maj. Gen. Ernesto Carolina said there were simultaneous operations against the rebels in three locations to keep them from linking up.
Arroyo said troops were pursuing Janjalani and Isnilon Hapilon, who also is on the list offering a dlrs 5 million reward for five Abu Sayyaf leaders, on Friday.
The troops were targeting the "lair of Hapilon, and I understand Khaddafy Janjalani is there with him," Arroyo said in a separate address to graduates of the Philippine Merchant Marine Academy. "The fighting is still ongoing, and it will probably go on for two more days. Our forces will relentlessly hunt down, these criminals until they are all accounted for."
A military statement said the camps had been set up recently in Patikul town, the site of Thursday's clash, and may have been abandoned after the fighting.
"In one of the camps, the area had five bunkers and a mess hall large enough to accommodate more than 50 persons," the statement said.
About 5,000 troops are deployed in the region to hunt down the Abu Sayyaf, who have been reduced from about 1,000 fighters to fewer than 250 over the last year, according to latest military estimates.
The president repeatedly has vowed to crush the Abu Sayyaf, which has been a persistent thorn in the side of the government with mass kidnappings for ransom, murder and other crimes. Their most recent abduction stretched over a year and involved 102 hostages at various times, including an American missionary couple held since May 27, 2001.
Martin and Gracia Burnham of Wichita, Kansas, and Filipino nurse Ediborah Yap were the last hostages. A rescue attempt June 7 left Martin Burnham and Yap dead, along with four of the rebels. Gracia, shot through the thigh, was evac²ated.
That left the rebels, with no more human shields, on the run. Arroyo poured troops into the area in an effort to finish off the group for good.
Last Friday, the military intercepted seven rebels as they tried to flee on a boat. Three were presumed dead, including Abu Sabaya, the group's chief spokesman and the man who headed the last kidnapping spree.
About 1,000 U.S. Green Berets, pilots, support staff and military engineers are staying until July 31 on Basilan, Zamboanga and central Cebu province on a six-month mission to train and advise Filipino troops fighting the Abu Sayyaf.
A military official said without elaborating that U.S. surveillance and satellite technology is being used in the current offensive.
Jolo, an island 940 kilometers (580 miles south of Manila), has long been pestered by Muslim rebels, bandits, pirates and other lawless groups.
Three of four kidnapped Indonesian crewmen on a tugboat are being held in the hinterlands of Jolo's Luuk town. One escaped the day after they were abducted at sea by bandits last week.
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