Delta Niner
01-20-2007, 03:07 AM
10 Abus, 3 Marines killed as gunbattle erupts in Patikul
01/18/2007 | 03:36 PM
Email this | Email the Editor | Print | Digg this | Add to del.icio.us Ten suspected Abu Sayyaf rebels and three Marine soldiers were killed as government security forces continue to pursue Islamic militants holed out in Patikul town in Sulu province Thursday, a military spokesman said.
The fierce firefight erupted 12 noon Thursday in Timpook village and was still ongoing as of posting time, said Marine spokesman Lt. Col. Ariel Caculitan.
Caculitan said operating Marine troops have "yet to ascertain the identities of the enemies killed" including bandit leader Radullan Sahiron.
Three other Abu Sayyaf rebels were captured, he said.
The Patikul clash came two days after the encounter between Abu Sayyaf rebels and Army Special Forces elements in Talipao town which resulted to the death of bandit leader Jainal Antel Sali Jr, alias Abu Solaiman.
"This is part of our commitment to destroy the Abu Sayyaf in Sulu," Caculitan said, on the same day President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo vowed to crush terror groups with a "hand of steel."
The President said in a statement: "The Philippines has a stake in a safer world where eight million Filipinos work and reside, and in an East Asian region that builds shared prosperity on stability and peace ... The relentless pressure we have applied in the field is taking its toll and we will keep it up until all the terrorists and their clandestine cells are accounted for."
In November 2005, an embarrassed Philippine National Police (PNP) apologized for the blunder of informing the President on the supposed capture of a mere "lookalike" of Sahiron in Zamboanga Sibugay province.
No less than President Arroyo at that time announced Sahiron's supposed capture in Gitabog village in Titay town by law-enforcement teams led by police Senior Supt. Rodolfo "Boogie" Mendoza.
Sahiron was tagged as among the bandits who raided the posh Dos Palmas resort in Palawan in May 2001. The suspects kidnapped 21 people including Americans Guillermo Sobero, Martin and Gracia Burnham, and other Filipino tourists.
Sahiron has been described in military reports as a horse-riding one-armed commander.
"It is but right to correct that mistake and bring back the person invited for questioning to his family. We assure everyone that his rights were not violated. We apologize for the unintentional lapse," then PNP chief Director Gen. Arturo Lomibao said.
In late December last year, Marine soldiers exhumed what is believed to be the remains of Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani in a remote village in Patikul town.
At present, Filipino and American forensic experts are still conducting DNA tests on the remains to determine whether the cadaver recovered is indeed that of Janjalani. - GMANews.TV
01/18/2007 | 03:36 PM
Email this | Email the Editor | Print | Digg this | Add to del.icio.us Ten suspected Abu Sayyaf rebels and three Marine soldiers were killed as government security forces continue to pursue Islamic militants holed out in Patikul town in Sulu province Thursday, a military spokesman said.
The fierce firefight erupted 12 noon Thursday in Timpook village and was still ongoing as of posting time, said Marine spokesman Lt. Col. Ariel Caculitan.
Caculitan said operating Marine troops have "yet to ascertain the identities of the enemies killed" including bandit leader Radullan Sahiron.
Three other Abu Sayyaf rebels were captured, he said.
The Patikul clash came two days after the encounter between Abu Sayyaf rebels and Army Special Forces elements in Talipao town which resulted to the death of bandit leader Jainal Antel Sali Jr, alias Abu Solaiman.
"This is part of our commitment to destroy the Abu Sayyaf in Sulu," Caculitan said, on the same day President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo vowed to crush terror groups with a "hand of steel."
The President said in a statement: "The Philippines has a stake in a safer world where eight million Filipinos work and reside, and in an East Asian region that builds shared prosperity on stability and peace ... The relentless pressure we have applied in the field is taking its toll and we will keep it up until all the terrorists and their clandestine cells are accounted for."
In November 2005, an embarrassed Philippine National Police (PNP) apologized for the blunder of informing the President on the supposed capture of a mere "lookalike" of Sahiron in Zamboanga Sibugay province.
No less than President Arroyo at that time announced Sahiron's supposed capture in Gitabog village in Titay town by law-enforcement teams led by police Senior Supt. Rodolfo "Boogie" Mendoza.
Sahiron was tagged as among the bandits who raided the posh Dos Palmas resort in Palawan in May 2001. The suspects kidnapped 21 people including Americans Guillermo Sobero, Martin and Gracia Burnham, and other Filipino tourists.
Sahiron has been described in military reports as a horse-riding one-armed commander.
"It is but right to correct that mistake and bring back the person invited for questioning to his family. We assure everyone that his rights were not violated. We apologize for the unintentional lapse," then PNP chief Director Gen. Arturo Lomibao said.
In late December last year, Marine soldiers exhumed what is believed to be the remains of Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani in a remote village in Patikul town.
At present, Filipino and American forensic experts are still conducting DNA tests on the remains to determine whether the cadaver recovered is indeed that of Janjalani. - GMANews.TV