Suspected members of the Abu Sayyaf Group killed two more soldiers in Basilan province on Sunday even as the Armed Forces of the Philippines said it was working on a program to annihilate the terrorist group in six months.
A report from the Western Mindanao Command said the soldiers were riding a motorcycle when they were ambushed at 10:25 a.m. in Barangay Tumahubong in Sumisip town.
Military public affairs officer Ma. Filemon Tan said the two victims died instantly of multiple gunshot wounds.
Tan did not give the names of the slain soldiers because their families had not yet been informed, but said they belonged to the Alpha Company of the Army’s 64th Infantry Battalion.
“They were on their way back from Barangay Tumahubong to their command post in Barangay Sapah Bulak when a band of Abu Sayyaf bandits ambushed them,” Tan said.
Meanwhile, incoming AFP chief of staff Lt. Gen. Ricardo Visaya, the current Southern Luzon Command chief, said a “drastic operational plan” will be implemented against the ASG.
“It’s now being prepared. Definitely, we will implement a plan that aims to eliminate the ASG problem in six months,” Visaya said.
He declined to elaborate, saying only that he saw no need to insert more troops into the provinces of Sulu and Basilan.
“We’ve a lot troops already there,” he said.
At present, up to seven battalions are deployed in Sulu and almost the same number of soldiers are assigned in Basilan, all of them seeking out the ASG.
The bandits are still holding nearly a dozen hostages, including Robert Hall and Kjartan Sekkingstad, a Canadian and a Norwegian, respectively. The bandits are also holding Hall’s Filipino girlfriend Marites Flor.
In April, the ASG beheaded John Ridsdel, another Canadian, after his family failed to give their demand for a ransom of P300 million.
The bandits promised to behead another captive if the P300 million each demanded for Hall and Sekkingstad is not delivered.
President-elect Rodrigo Duterte has called on the Abu Sayyaf to surrender or else “I will invade Jolo.”
Meanwhile, the government remains focused on helping residents of Lanao del Sur, amid military operations against the Maute group, Malacañang said on Sunday.
“The government is focused on the welfare of our people in Butig, Lanao del Sur affected by the ongoing military operation against the Maute group,” Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma said in a radio interview over state-run dzRB.
“The Department of Social Welfare and Development and other government agencies are not stopping in the delivery of aid and humanitarian assistance to the residents of the area, including the families currently staying in evacuation centers,” Coloma said.
Reports said troops captured an Islamic militant training camp after a10-day battle in a remote jungle in the town. The offensive against the group, one of several local Muslim armed organizations which have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, has left four soldiers dead and 15 others wounded, a military commander said.
Once described by the military as a small-time extortion gang, the Maute group attacked a remote Army outpost in Butig in February, triggering a week of fighting that the military said has left six soldiers and at least 12 militants dead.