Southern Command chief Lt. Gen. Alberto Braganza said the two bandits were captured during a chance encounter with joint Army intelligence operatives and naval commandos who were tracking the reported landing of the bandit group on Sacol Island from Sultan Kudarat last Friday.
The island, located 1.5 nautical miles east off this city, is known to be a jump-off point of sea pirates and remnants of the Abu Sayyaf.
Braganza said the troops caught up with the bandits last Saturday morning in Sitio Landang Laum. An encounter took place in which two group members were injured.
He identified the captured suspects as Abdullah Uttoh and Bibi Uttoh, both wounded during the skirmish.
"The two suspects were immediately given medical attention before they were placed under tactical interrogation. We have to determine what their mission was in landing on that island," Braganza said.
The arrest came after the military captured last week a ranking Abu Sayyaf leader wanted by the US and Philippine governments for the kidnapping of three Americans and for involvement in the siege of Lamitan town in Basilan in 2001.
Aminula Jimlani, who carried a P1-million bounty on his head, was among the Abu Sayyaf bandits who seized three Americans and 17 local tourists and beach resort personnel in Palawan in 2001.
Police said Jimlani was surprised by military and police intelligence agents at a safe house in Payao, Zamboanga Sibugay province after being tipped off by an informant.
Meanwhile, four soldiers were wounded after suspected Abu Sayyaf gunmen and members of a renegade Muslim guerrilla group attacked an Army outpost at dawn Saturday in Indanan, Sulu. — With AFP