Bandits in Sulu break into small groups – military

By Ronron
August 17, 2007

The Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) in Sulu, joined by renegade members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and bombers of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) group, have broken into small groups due to the alleged wounding of their key leaders, a Philippine military commander said Friday.

“We received reports that they have splintered. They did this to avoid detection as a large group,” Maj. Gen. Ruben Rafael, commander of the Sulu-based Joint Task Force Comet of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), told Camp Aguinaldo reporters in a phone interview yesterday.

The group is composed of more or less 120 persons, reportedly led by ASG leaders Radullan Sahiron, Abu Pula or Dr. Abu, and Albader Parad, and by JI bombers Dulmatin and Omar Patek.

Raw reports reaching the military indicate that Abu and Dulmatin were hurt during the fierce fighting last August 9 in Barangay Tambaking, Maimbung, Sulu.

“It will be easier for us since they will be slowed down by the wounded high-value targets,” Rafael said when asked of the impact of the reported wounded of Abu and Dulmatin.

But AFP Public Information Officer Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro said “the downside (of the breaking up of the bandits) is that our forces will also be divided.”

AFP chief of staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, Jr. disclosed the group of bandits has already moved out of their original hideout in the island province where they were engaged last August 9.

“So now, what is being done is we are looking for them through intelligence and through patrols until we can locate them and engage them,” Esperon said.

So far, no clash has occurred since the August 9 incident.

Esperon said he has ordered Army chief Lt. Gen. Romeo Tolentino, who was tasked by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to oversee the theater of operations in Sulu and Basilan, to coordinate with the MNLF leadership, with which the Philippine government has entered into a peace pact in 1996, for the operations in Sulu.

“We’ll put up a contact point, coordination point… Meaning, those who are in one place are expected to be MNLF members, as identified by MNLF officials. Those who are not there are therefore lawless elements, Abu Sayyaf members, especially those with firearms,” Esperon said.

The proposed arrangement is expected to be finalized on Sunday, said Esperon.

“If we have those mechanisms on the ground, it is easier to conduct the operations,” he said.

The AFP has a total of eight Marine and Army battalions in Sulu to run after the Moslem rebels./DMS