5 killed in Marines’ encounter with Sayyaf

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – At least three Marines and two Abu Sayyaf militants were killed while 10 others were wounded in a firefight in Patikul, Sulu early yesterday.

Troops from the Marine Battalion Landing Team 6 were deployed to a remote village in Barangay Bakong to check intelligence reports about the presence of Abu Sayyaf gunmen and their captives.

“The troops conducted a combat patrol to verify the reported presence of the kidnap victims in the area when they caught up with the Abu Sayyaf group, resulting in the encounter,” said regional military spokesman Lt. Col. Randolph Cabangbang.

“The encounter resulted in three Marines killed in action and 10 wounded,” Cabangbang said.

The government side was able to fight back, killing two Abu Sayyaf bandits and wounding an undetermined number during the fierce firefight, Cabangbang said.

One of the two killed gunmen was identified only as a certain Kaisar though none of the hostages were sighted or recovered.

The military said the Marines encountered the combined groups of Abu Sayyaf leaders Radullan Sahiron and Tahil Sali.

The Abu Sayyaf, whose followers number in the low hundreds, is blamed for the country’s worst terrorist attacks including a ferry bombing in 2004 that killed more than 100.

The group is also behind a series of high-profile kidnappings of foreign and local tourists as well as businessmen.

It is on the US government’s list of foreign terrorist organizations, and a number of American advisers have been rotating in the southern Philippines for the past decade helping local counterparts to try to crush the group.

A number of foreign hostages are believed held by the Abu Sayyaf in its Jolo stronghold or elsewhere, including two European bird-watchers seized in February and an Australian abducted last December.

Western Mindanao Command chief Maj. Gen. Rey Ardo immediately ordered the dispatch of all available air and naval assets to support the troops.

Ardo also ordered to retrieve the bodies of the slain soldiers and bring the wounded to the nearest hospital in Sulu for treatment.