FOUR more Abu Sayyaf bandits were killed after ground troops stumbled on the terrorist group on the outskirts of Talipao in Sulu early Sunday morning, an official said.
Col. Cirilito Sobejana, Commander of Joint Task Force Sulu, said the four were killed during a firefight in Lumipad village around 5:45 a.m.
He made the statement even as President Rodrigo Duterte’s ongoing campaign against extremism and terrorism got a much needed boost after the descendants of sultans and royal clans in Mindanao expressed their support for the government’s campaign against the two security menaces.
That resulted from the first-ever Mindanao Sultanate Summit on Peace and Security hosted by the Defense and Interior departments on March 2 to 4 that was attended by around 500 participants.
The death of the four bandits brought to 16 the number of slain terrorists after a series of military operations against the Abu Sayyaf, which started after the group beheaded 70-year-old German hostage Jurgen Kantner in Igasan, Sulu, on Sunday last week.
Sobejana said troops of the 64th Marine Company were mobilized after a group of Abu Sayyaf bandits was reported in Lumipad village, where they arrived and engaged the bandits in a firefight.
Sobejana said soldiers found the bodies of the found bandits as well as seven high-powered firearms and two grenade launchers.
“Our troops are more than motivated to go after these bandits who know nothing but to victimize innocent civilians for their own personal gain,” Major Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr. said. With PNA