ZAMBOANGA CITY , Philippines – Government troops clashed with an Abu Sayyaf group, leaving a militant dead and an undetermined number wounded, in a remote village in Sumisip, Basilan last Saturday afternoon, the military said.
Soldiers belonging to the Army’s 64th Infantry Battalion and government militiamen were escorting the cargo truck of the Tumahubong Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Integrated Development Cooperative when at least 10 Abu Sayyaf militants waylaid them in Sitio Manican, Barangay Sapah Bulak in Sumisip town.
The cargo truck of the cooperative had just come from Isabela City to deliver raw rubber sap.
Lt. Col. Leonardo Dacumos, 64th IB commander, said his men, however, fought back, killing one of their attackers, identified as one Omar Akbar Suwaire.