EDITORIAL - Another comeback

Every time the Abu Sayyaf is written off as a spent force, it manages to stage a dramatic, bloody comeback. At dawn last Thursday, the bandit group loosely linked to al-Qaeda struck, killing seven Marines in the jungles of Sulu. The Marines were reportedly closing in on Abu Sayyaf commanders Radulan Sahiron and Isnilon Hapilon, long wanted for a string of terrorist attacks. But the bandits fought back, killing the Marines in the ensuing firefight.

Yesterday, amid reports that some of the Marines were decapitated and mutilated, the military reported that about 30 of the terrorists were also killed. The brutality is reminiscent of an ambush in Basilan in July 2007, when the Abu Sayyaf also beheaded 10 Marines who were ambushed while searching for kidnapped Italian priest Giancarlo Bossi.

This time, the Marines were tipped off that Sahiron and Hapilon, who have a combined bounty of $6 million offered by the United States for their capture, had set up camp between the slopes of two mountains in Patikul, long a stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf. A Malaysian militant of the Southeast Asian terror cell Jemaah Islamiyah, Zulkifli bin Hir or Marwan, was also believed to be with the bandits.

The Abu Sayyaf has been sowing terror in Sulu, Basilan and neighboring provinces for nearly two decades. Most of its founding members have been killed, with several of them flushed out of the jungles of Basilan when US troops returned to the country and assisted the Armed Forces of the Philippines in Mindanao. Those victories should have been consolidated and combined with development efforts to deprive the bandits of sanctuary and public support, with local governments playing a key role in the effort.

The resurgence of the group in Basilan, reportedly with the assistance of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, and the latest attack in Sulu indicate that more must be done in consolidating those gains. Sahiron and Hapilon can be captured by the AFP, but the military solution needs to be backed by sufficient non-military initiatives to end banditry and insurgency.