Eight people—five soldiers and three Abu Sayyaf bandits—were killed while more than 20 were wounded in an armed clash between government troops and an estimated 100 Abu Sayyaf in Patikul, Sulu on Saturday, the military said.
Troops hunting down terrorists who engineered the Jolo Cathedral bombing in Jolo clashed anew, this time with a large concentration of the bandit group, among them a suspect in the twin blasts that killed 22 and hurt at least 100 others in the capital town of Jolo last week.
The “intense firefight” between the 5th Scout Ranger Battalion and the Abu Sayyaf members under a certain Hajan Sawadjaan erupted in Barangay Kabbon Takas shortly before noon, military officials told reporters.
Sawadjaan is an Abu Sayyaf leader believed to be involved in the bombings at the Jolo Cathedral during a Mass on Jan. 27.
In his report, Col. Gerry Besana, spokesperson of the Western Mindanao Command, said the fighting started at about 11:30 a.m. and raged on to late afternoon.
The gun battle entered its fourth day after the awful bomb attack labeled as a suicide bombing apparently pulled off by Indonesian jihadist couple that claimed 22 people dead and wounded 123 others.
Besana said the fresh fighting erupted as troops from the 5th Scout Ranger Battalion under Lt. Col. Marlo Jomalesa encountered an estimated 100 heavily armed Abu Sayyaf militants under Hatib Sawadjaan at Sitio Sungkog, Barangay Kabbon Takas in Patikul.
Initially, the ASG reportedly inflicted and undetermined number of casualties with government forces suffering no deaths.
There was no confirmation yet whether Sawadjaan was actually leading the large group of terrorists when spotted by soldiers on relentless pursuit against the enemy of the state.
Sawadjaan was classified as a notorious terrorist behind the killing of Canadians John Ridsdel and Robert Hall in 2016 and figured in the kidnapping of teachers in Basilan.
The terrorist sub-leader operates in Sulu with hundreds of fighters equipped with sophisticated weapons.
On Wednesday, government forces pounded ASG positions in the ridges of Patikul, Sulu after President Rodrigo Duterte ordered troops to crush the terrorist group following the twin blasts in Mt. Carmel Church, sparking skirmishes.
The day after, a member of the Ajang-Ajang wing of the ASG under Sawadjaan, Ommal Usop, was killed in shootout with troops in Brgy Latih, Patikul town.
READ: Ajang-Ajang man falls; Kamah escapes
Besana identified Usop as one of 13 members of the Ajang-Ajang group responsible in the twin bombing in Mt. Carmel Church last Sunday.
He also revealed that the Latih village where Usop was killed was the meeting place of ASG sub-leader Hatib Sawadjaan and the same spot where the leader of the Ajang-Ajang—Abdul Ajim Abdul Gani, alias Suraka Ingug—was killed on Aug. 15, 2018.
Besana added the Ajang-Ajang, which he identified as belonging to the Daula Islamiya, attempted to reinforce terrorists in Marawi City at the height of the siege in 2016 but failed.
