Col. Romeo Tolentino, Army brigade commander in Sulu, said the soldiers were on patrol in Barangay Kabantakas at around 1:15 p.m. when they encountered the 80 guerrillas led by Radullan Sahiron, Abu Sayyaf commander in the island-province.
"Based on the assessment of our troops that conducted the clearing operations, more or less 10 (gunmen) were killed," he said.
Sahiron was among those who led the kidnapping of 21 mostly European tourists from the Sipadan beach resort off Sabah on Easter Sunday almost two years ago.
Capt. Noel Detoyato, spokesman for the military’s Southern Command (Southcom), said troops fired howitzer rounds at Abu Sayyaf positions in Sulu after the bandits ambushed and killed five Scout Rangers and their lieutenant on Friday.
"There is an ongoing military operation in the area and our troops are pursuing the Abu Sayyaf," he said.
Col. Fredesvindo Covarrubias, Southcom civil relations chief, denied yesterday the Abu Sayyaf attempted to snatch Friday two foreign journalists covering the joint Philippines-United States military exercises in Zamboanga City and Basilan.
Reports said Canadian Christopher Johnson and Frenchman Jamal Hamden were preparing to board a ferry boat for Basilan when two men posing as Army soldiers approached them, claiming they were sent to assist the reporters.
Covarrubias said the journalists became suspicious and contacted the military who told them to return immediately to their hotel in Zamboanga City.
"The two journalists declined (the invitation of the suspects) after sensing danger because the men failed to show their identification cards," he said.
However, Johnson and Hamden told Zamboanga City reporters there had been an attempt to snatch them.
Capt. Harold Cabunoc, commander of a Scout Ranger unit in Basilan, said intelligence reports indicated that the men were Abu Sayyaf members trying to lure the journalists into a trap.
"We did not send anybody to fetch journalists," he said.
Armed Forces spokesman Brig. Gen. Edilberto Adan told reporters yesterday the military is investigating reports that Net25 television reporter Arlyn de la Cruz had been kidnapped in Basilan.
"We are verifying these reports," he said.
Former Ilocos Norte governor Luis "Chavit" Singson told Reuters De la Cruz, missing since Jan. 17, had told him through his cellphone that "Muslim gunmen" were holding her, but ruled out the Abu Sayyaf.
"They are asking for P40 million but they said they need P500,000 immediately," he said. "She said she was on her way to see the Abu Sayyaf when she was snatched. She said it was not the Abu Sayyaf that took her... but they (her abductors) spoke in Tausug."
Singson said he was not sure if De la Cruz was being held in Basilan or another part of Southern Mindanao.
"I told her I would help but I have to see what’s the best way to do it," he said.
Jesus Dureza, presidential assistant for Mindanao, said he has no knowledge of De la Cruz’s talk with Singson and he had not heard from her since she went missing.
Presidential Spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao said the threat against journalists was real and the military warning was not meant to scare reporters.
"Even in Pakistan, that has become a big problem because a Wall Street Journal reporter has been abducted," he said.
Dozens of foreign journalists have been flocking to Zamboanga City to cover the six-month Philippine-US military exercises which began last month.
The exercises are aimed at helping the Philippines crush the Abu Sayyaf, whom the US government had linked to the al-Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the US.
Lt. Gen. Roy Cimatu, Southcom chief, told reporters three infantry battalions have been deployed in Sulu to reinforce troops fighting the Abu Sayyaf.
"The intention really is to degrade and comply with the presidential directive to finish the Abu Sayyaf already so we are shifting our main effort now in Jolo," he said. "At the same time we are conducting mopping-up operations in Basilan and at the same time rescue the hostages."
Cimatu said sustained military operations have reduced the Abu Sayyaf to at least a "hundred men" that had been splintered into three groups, but with reinforcements from renegade Moro National Liberation Front guerrillas loyal to jailed former governor Nur Misuari.
"They (Abu Sayyaf and Misuari partisans) are already joining together, the renegade groups," he said. "This has been found out in the past encounters. We would like to level them, the Abu Sayyaf, because this is really our concern now when they joined the Abu Sayyaf they have become Abu Sayyaf already."
Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Angel Reyes ruled out sabotage yesterday in the grounding of a US C-17 transport plane at Zamboanga International Airport.
"It damage was not caused by sabotage, none whatsoever," he said. "It’s pure malfunction."
US Army M/Sgt. Michael Farris, Balikatan 02-01 US information officer, said the aircraft had landed safely with its crewmen and cargo.
"The crew are safe, the plane is safe and the cargo is safe as it parked in its parking spot," he said.
A US maintenance crew is investigating why the plane’s engine caught fire, he said but refused to give details. — With Reuters, AFP