ZAMBOANGA CITY: Government soldiers killed an Abu Sayyaf terrorist in a clash in the Muslim province of Sulu in Southern Philippines, officials confirmed Wednesday. Officials said troops were on foot patrol in Mount Tumatangis in Indanan town, site of a recent battle between the terrorist pro-Islamic State (IS) group and the former rebel group Moro National Liberation Front that left seven of the latter’s members wounded. A flash military report received here by Western Mindanao Command chief Lt. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana from the Army’s 11th Infantry Division Commander Maj. Gen. Corleto Vinluan said the wounded bandits were taken to a military hospital in Jolo for treatment. Vinluan disclosed that a group of soldiers was operating in the forested area at Kagay village in an attempt to rescue three Indonesian fishermen who were earlier kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf bandits off the sea of Kagay when they encountered the terrorists. The Tuesday morning gunfight lasted more than 25 minutes with soldiers seizing the Abu Sayyaf encampment, including an automatic rifle with grenade launcher, cell phones, solar panels and provision. There was no report of military casualty in the fighting. The operation against the Abu Sayyaf is continuing in Sulu, one of five provinces under the Muslim autonomous region. The Abu Sayyaf, whose leaders pledged allegiance to IS, is fighting for the establishment of a caliphate, and also involved in ransom kidnappings in southern Philippines and in Sabah, Malaysia. Despite their notoriety, the Duterte government continues to lure terrorists to surrender and promise them financial and livelihood aid and in some cases, amnesty and even jobs as members of the army’s militia units. This government program was also implemented in previous administrations, but hundreds of those who surrendered and received financial aid had either returned to mountains to fight again after spending their money, or had joined other rebel groups only to surrender under a different identity to avail the same program.With a reports from DEMPSEY REYES AND ANTONIO RIMANDO
