By Hader Glang
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (AA) – Four Abu Sayyaf terrorists were killed in a clash with government forces in the troubled southern province of Sulu, according to a military official on Sunday.
Elite troops of the 64th Marine Company, Marine Special Operations Group encountered over a hundred heavily armed Abu Sayyaf bandits in Barangay Lumipad in between the towns of Talipao and Maibung in the pre-dawn hours of Sunday morning, Capt. Jo-Ann Petinglay, spokesperson of Western Mindanao Command said.
This came just a day after the discovery of the body of a German hostage beheaded by the Abu Sayyaf.
Petinglay said the Marines recovered four bodies of the enemies and seven high-powered firearms including two M-16 rifles and two M-2013 grenade launchers.
Prior to the encounter, the marines were deployed to a remote village based on a tip from an informant about the presence of a large number of Abu Sayyaf bandits in the area, she added.
“Heavy firefight erupted shortly after the marines arrived in the area about 4.30 this (Sunday) morning (2030GMT on Saturday),” she said.
The Abu Sayyaf terrorists immediately scampered to different directions following the fighting and fled the area of encounter, according to Petinglay, who said the skirmishes were still ongoing in the region.
The military launched an intensified campaign against the Abu Sayyaf on the orders of President Rodrigo Duterte following the Feb. 26 beheading of Jurgen Kantner, 70.
The German hostage, who was abducted from his yacht on Nov. 6, was beheaded after the group’s ransom demand for P30 million (nearly $600,000) was not met.
Colonel Cirilito Sobejana, chief of the Joint Task Force Sulu, said Sunday that Kantner’s head was also recovered by soldiers on Saturday.
“We are coordinating now with the German Embassy for the disposition of Kantner’s remains,” he added.
A video posted Sunday on a media website showed marine troopers were exhuming the body of Kantner from his grave in an area surrounded by thick weeds and tall grasses.
The Abu Sayyaf terrorists have been kidnapping foreigners and locals for decades and holding them for ransom in the jungles of southern Mindanao.
They are believed to still hold at least 31 hostages including 12 Vietnamese nationals. There are also seven Indonesians, six Filipinos, five Malaysians and one Dutch.
Philippine authorities believe that the terrorist group has joined forces with the Maute group based in Lanao province in central Mindanao.
Military operations against the Maute group, which has also pledged allegiance to Daesh, have also been intensified.
