Philippine marine killed in clash with al-Qaida-linked militants
Gunbattles between al-Qaida-linked guerrillas and the Filipino military in the south of the country killed at least one marine and wounded 24 troops, the military said today, as the country’s president said the government was on the verge of wiping out the militants.
Filipino marines clashed with Abu Sayyaf militants last night in southern Jolo island’s Patikul town, killing a marine second lieutenant and an undetermined number of rebels, marine spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Ariel Caculitan said.
Earlier, five marines were wounded in an encounter with about 80 guerrillas led by Radulan Sahiron, a one-armed Abu Sayyaf commander on Washington’s most-wanted terrorist list, he said.
The marines pursued the fleeing rebels and caught up with them in the village of Tugas outside Patikul town about seven hours later, triggering another clash.
A separate gunbattle in Maimbung town, about 20 miles west of Patikul, left 19 soldiers with injuries, said Major Eugene Batara, spokesman for the military’s Western Mindanao Command.
Batara said a platoon from the army’s 33rd Infntry Battalion called in support from helicopter gunships when they encountered about 50 Abu Sayyaf guerrillas. The clash lasted more than two hours and left an undetermined number of guerrilla casualties, he said.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said extremist “leaders and their cohorts are falling one by one, and we are on the verge of wiping out the notorious Abu Sayyaf group permanently”.
“The nation must be one behind the armed forces and the police in this fight. All Filipinos have a stake in defeating terrorism anywhere in the world,” she said in a statement.
She also commended police for the seizure of a shipment of half a tonne of ammonium nitrate, which she described as bomb material for Abu Sayyaf.
The military last month launched a US-backed offensive targeting top guerrilla leaders, including chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani and two members of south-east Asian terror group Jemaah Islamiyah, Umar Patek and Dulmatin, who are allegedly hiding out with the Filipino militants and are both wanted for the 2002 bombings that killed 202 people in Bali, Indonesia.
The US military has maintained a presence in the southern Philippines since 2002, when it launched joint counterterrorism training with Filipino troops following a wave of kidnappings by Abu Sayyaf, whose victims have included American tourists. US troops are not directly involved in combat.
