ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines — Following airstrikes on Abu Sayyaf positions in the jungles of Sulu, government forces resumed their ground assault yesterday, nearly trapping several terrorists making their escape.
Troops from the 1st Scout Ranger Battalion led by Maj. John Rey Santi Aling encountered 20 Abu Sayyaf members belonging to the terror group’s Ajang-Ajang faction led by a certain Macrin at about 7:20 a.m. in Barangay Latih, Patikul town.
Col. Gerry Besana, spokesman for the Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom), said the ground battle was near an area devastated by the recent airstrikes.
There was no immediate report of casualties, Besana said, but ground troops reported seeing signs of Abu Sayyaf deaths.
“The pursuit has been ongoing and we are waiting for the report as to how many of the enemies were killed while on our side there was no reported casualty,” Besana said.
He said troops were still pursuing fleeing Abu Sayyaf members.
“The Abu Sayyaf members encountered by troops were part of those who were trying to escape from the intense military operation,” Besana pointed out.
The military gave assurance of the safety of civilians, emphasizing that the air strikes and the shelling were directed at Abu Sayyaf positions and not at communities.
Those areas “have no communities anymore,” as the people had opted to stay away from terrorists.
The Sulu provincial social welfare office reported that 300 families have fled Patikul for fear of getting hit in the crossfire in the event of an escalation of the fighting.
President Duterte ordered the military offensive in response to the terror attack on Jolo cathedral that killed 21 people and injured 100 on Sunday. Three days later, a grenade lobbed through a window of Kamardikaan mosque in Zamboanga City killed two Islamic preachers and wounded two of their companions.
Police, meanwhile, have cleared the four individuals earlier tagged as “persons of interest” in the blasts at the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cathedral in Jolo.
In the mosque grenade attack, police said they have identified two persons of interest. They declined to provide details.
“They are no longer persons of interest” in the Jolo cathedral bombing, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Oscar Albayalde yesterday said in an interview over CNN Philippines.
The four – Alshaber Arbi, Alsimar Mahamud, Julis Abdulzam and school teacher Gerry Isnajil – presented themselves to authorities on Tuesday to deny involvement in the bombings.
The military earlier identified them as possible persons of interest after they were caught on CCTV acting like they had just detonated the bombs using a cellphone.
The four were released Wednesday night after executing sworn affidavits and presenting documents.
One of them, Arbi, was initially identified by the military as Kamah, a brother of slain Abu Sayyaf leader Surakah Ingog.
Albayalde admitted authorities had made a mistake but stressed it was understandable, considering the CCTV image’s poor resolution. “It’s not even digital so the face is not really clear,” he said.
But investigators strongly believe it was Abu Sayyaf terrorists, specifically Kamah, who perpetrated the cathedral blasts, citing the latter’s previous threats targeting the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel cathedral.
“By all indications, they are the ones responsible. I think they already openly admitted,” he said.
Albayalde also said the PNP is willing to apologize to the four wrongly tagged as persons of interest.
“I think so because remember I was not the one who identified them but of course, why not?” he said.
Security forces on Tuesday swooped down on Kamah’s alleged hideout in Barangay Latih, Patikul but missed the terror suspect who managed to escape along with an unidentified male companion. An Abu Sayyaf member, Ommal Yusop was killed in the operation.
The PNP chief admitted there were security lapses, as churchgoers were not frisked.
On President Duterte’s claim that a female suicide bomber set off the explosion inside the church, Albayalde said the President could have drawn his information from his own sources.
“I cannot say if it’s a woman or a man. Remember the President has unlimited sources of information. Probably it did not come from us or probably it came from other agencies,” Albayalde explained.
On the mosque attack, Chief Supt.t Emmanuel Luis Licup, Zamboanga peninsula director, said they “have two persons of interest and we have leads on how to identify them.” He declined to share “operational details” regarding the development.
Albayalde also said in the CNN interview that the grenade attack on the mosque could be in retaliation for the Jolo cathedral bombing.
“This is just to probably give a strong message that these Christians also can do the same,” he said.
Another angle, he said, is the long-standing feud between Muslim factions in the area. He said it is possible the attackers were unaware that people were asleep inside the mosque.
“Probably those perpetrators really did not know that there were people there but what we know it was really intentional,” he said.
Senior Insp. Shellamie Chang, spokesperson for the Zamboanga City Police Office, said a special investigation team has been dispatched to Lamitan City, Basilan to coordinate with other Islamic preachers who had survived the mosque grenade explosion.
She said they have established no connection between the Jolo cathedral bombing and the mosque grenade attack.
“We believe the incident here is not related to the Jolo bombing because the target conducted only to certain people, unlike the motive of the terrorist group, it is directed in a big target to inflict wider casualties and damage,” Chang said. – With Emmanuel Tupas