ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – Another Abu Sayyaf bandit was killed in ongoing pursuit operations by Marines in their mountain lair in Talipao, Sulu, the military said yesterday.
The hostilities have so far left seven militants dead and eight others wounded.
Col. Jose Johriel Cenabre, commander of the 2nd Marine Brigade and Joint Task Force Sulu, said the Abu Sayyaf bandit, identified as one Sahadil, was killed in an encounter on Tuesday morning in Barangay Mabahay, where fierce fighting also occurred last weekend.
Cenabre said the Special Operation Platoon 2 of the Marine Battalion Landing Team 2 clashed with the Abu Sayyaf group near the ridge of the mountain at around 8:30 a.m. Tuesday. A marine was wounded in the firefight.
The government security forces, backed by the Barangay Peace Action Team, have suffered seven wounded, six of them civilian volunteers.
Capt. Ma. Rowena Muyela, spokesperson of the Armed Forces’ Western Mindanao Command, said the fighting in Barangay Mabahay came barely two hours after Abu Sayyaf bandits ambushed Marines escorting members of a civic group and personnel of the provincial environment office from a tree-planting activity in Parang town, situated across Talipao.