9 soldiers killed in Sulu

ZAMBOANGA CITY – Nine soldiers were killed when an Abu Sayyaf band waylaid them on their way to market to buy food in Sulu yesterday.

Two other soldiers were wounded in the ambush at about 7:45 a.m. at Crossing, Maimbung town on Jolo island.

There was no report of Abu Sayyaf casualty.

Maj. Eugene Batara, Western Mindanao Command spokesman, said the soldiers from the Army’s 33rd Infantry Battalion were on board a military truck when attacked.

“We have reports that the Abu Sayyaf were the ones who attacked them,” he said.

The terrorists took the soldiers’ M-16 rifles and field radio, he added.

Batara said Task Force Comet commander Maj. Gen. Ruben Rafael has ordered a manhunt for the Abu Sayyaf band believed to be under the command of Albader Parad.

“Troops have been mobilized to track down the escaping Abu Sayyaf terrorists for punitive operation and possibly recover all the firearms and combat radio communication carted away by the attacking Abu Sayyaf group,” he said.

Lt. Col. Ernesto Torres, Army spokesman, said the Abu Sayyaf band could have staged the ambush in retaliation for the reported death of terrorist leader Murad Astig, who carried a $5-million bounty on his head, during an encounter with soldiers from the Army’s 33rd Infantry Battalion last Wednesday.

Troops from the 33rd backed up by two Scout Ranger companies are running after the terrorists who figured in Wednesday’s clash, he added.

Three Abu Sayyaf terrorists and a soldier were killed Wednesday and two Marines wounded Tuesday in separate clashes in different parts of Jolo.

‘Surrender’

At Malacañang, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye called on the men who killed and beheaded 10 Marines in Basilan last month to surrender to authorities.

“The campaign versus terror is ongoing and this has been repeatedly emphasized, not only by the President but by other officials of government, and we are doing whatever is necessary to curb the spread of this terrorism,” he said.

Bunye said the government is determined to serve the warrants of arrests against the suspected killers.

“I think it would be to the best interest of everybody concerned if they will follow the example of the first suspect who turned himself in,” he said.

Near shootout

In Maguindanao, the joint ceasefire committee prevented what could have been a bloody encounter between an MILF band and militiamen in Datu Piang town.

Ben Carandang, Datu Piang municipal administrator, said the showdown was precipitated by the “uncoordinated” entry into Barangay Kalipapa of about a hundred MILF guerrillas led by Ustadz Amiril Kato Ombra for a da’awah or religious dialogue with rebel supporters.

“The presence of the rebels there caused panic among civilians, causing forced evacuations,” he said.

Troops sent to verify the presence of armed men in Barangay Kalipapa nearly clashed with the band of Ombra, according to Carandang, chairman of Datu Piang’s municipal peace and order council.

Lt. Col. Julieto Ando, Army 6th Infantry Division spokesman, said the joint ceasefire committee managed to defuse the tension by working out the immediate repositioning of the two forces.

Brig. Gen. Edgardo Gurrea, government ceasefire committee chairman, and his MILF counterpart, Von Al-Haq, also pacified the evacuees and facilitated their return to their barangays, he added.

—with James Mananghaya, John Unson, Paolo Romero, AFP