ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – (UPDATE 3) Seven suspected Abu Sayyaf bandits were killed in an encounter with government soldiers on Laminusa Island in Siasi, Sulu on Sunday dawn.

Lieutenant General Ben Dolorfino, chief of the military’s Western Mindanao Command, said members of the Marine Battalion Landing Team 6 were on their way to raid the lair of an Abu Sayyaf faction led by Abu Benhur alias Boy Tondo, who has active ties to Jemaah Islamiyah when they clashed with a group of bandits in the village of Pookan at around 3:45 a.m.

Dolorfino said a marine soldier was injured in the encounter while two of the seven Abu Sayyaf bandits killed were women.

It was not immediately clear if Benhur was among those killed or if any other members of his group had escaped the raid.

But government troops could not account for any of the militant leaders, who may have escaped with other fleeing Abu Sayyaf fighters during the two clashes that erupted, said Brig. Gen. Rustico Guerrero, commander of the Task Force Comet.

The first firefight lasted for about 10 minutes, according to Navy spokesperson, Lt. Col. Edgard Arevalo. The second clash occurred a few hours later, where a Marine was wounded and immediately rushed to a ship with two medical teams on board, he told reporters on Sunday.

"This development is still in the pursuit of the Navy's quest for a lasting peace in Mindanao and for sustainable progress to come in," said Arevalo.

The raid was also a testament to the Fleet-Marine's "potency to extend sea power to the shores," he pointed out.

Guerrero said the raiding team's target was a group with connections to Zulkifli Bin Hir, also known as Marwan, who has been on the US State Department’s "wanted" list.

The US government has put up a reward of up to $5 million for any information that would lead to the arrest of Bin Hir, believed to be involved in multiple deadly bomb attacks in Mindanao.

The Marines also recovered 15 high-powered weapons, which included five Garand rifles, four M-16 rifles and an M-14 rifle, among others, from the site, added Arevalo.

Sunday's raid was the latest in a string of assaults launched by the military to paralyze the leadership of terrorist groups that continued to carry out atrocities in Mindanao. Last month, the Marines attacked another terrorist stronghold in Maimbung, Sulu, killing one of the top leaders of the Abu Sayyaf group, Albader Parad.

Parad had been involved in a string of kidnapping cases, the latest of which was the abduction of three volunteers of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The Abu Sayyaf is a 400-member group of Islamist militants operating in the remote Sulu group and nearby islands and which has been blamed for most of the country's deadliest terrorist attacks.

Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah, which has carried out a series of bombings in Indonesia, are allegedly planning to set up a pan-Islamic caliphate across Southeast Asia.


Julie Alipala, Jocelyn Uy
7th March 2010

Source: Inquirer.Net