TWENTY Abu Sayyaf bandits were killed while two soldiers were wounded as the newly-acquired FA-50 fighter jets of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) pounded and destroyed a bandit camp in Basilan province, military officials said Friday, May 12.
Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Bacala, Jr., commander of the Army’s 4th Special Forces Battalion, said the bandits were caught flat-footed as the fighter jets on Thursday “delivered deadly payload, inflicting heavy casualties to the bandit group.”
Bacala, who led the ground assault, said the Abu Sayyaf bandits led by Furuji Indama “were shocked” and have “abandoned most of their personal belongings and left unfinished meal at their encampment.”
Artillery and mortar fire followed immediately after the airstrikes.
Colonel Juvymax Uy, Joint Task Force Basilan commander, said joint troops from the 4th Special Forces and 3rd Scout Ranger Battalions led the ground assault against the group of Indama in the village of Pamatsaken, Sumisip.
Uy said the 4th Special Forces Battalion troops swooped down the Abu Sayyaf camp and engaged the bandits in a firefight just before dawn Thursday.
Bacala said the troops overran the Abu Sayyaf camp seated on a hilltop before 10 a.m., Thursday. There were 12 makeshift tents that could accommodate around 40 people at the fallen camp.
“Heavy bloodstains were found in the vicinity, with intelligence reports rounding no less than 20 ASG (Abu Sayyaf Group) fatalities from the combined airstrike and indirect fires,” the military report added.
The troops have recovered bomb-making components capable of fabricating 30 improvised explosive devices (IED).
The troops also recovered three IEDs but two soldiers were injured as one accidentally exploded.
Uy said that the information provided them by the ASG members who surrendered earlier yielded good result as to the whereabouts of the bandits.
The Western Mindanao Command reported that a total to 47 Abu Sayyaf bandit have surrendered as the all-out offensive continue against them in the provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.
Of the 47 Abu Sayyaf surrenderees, 25 of them are from Basilan, 11 from Sulu and the remaining 11 from the province of Tawi-Tawi. (VoxPop Philippines)
