Two ASG killed, Marine soldier wounded in fresh clash in Basilan

By Ronron
December 18, 2007

Two suspected members of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) were killed while a Marine soldier was wounded in a fresh clash on Tuesday in Basilan province, military and police officials said.

Lt. Col. Vincent Teodoro, commander of the 7th Marine Battalion Landing Team (MBLT), told Defense reporters in a phone interview that the firefight started at around 6:30 am yesterday after elements of the 8th MBLT attacked a suspected camp of the ASG and rouge Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) fighters.

Teodoro said the camp was located at Sitio Depdep, Barangay Bohe-Suyak in Ungkaya Pukan town.

He said the firefight dragged on until the afternoon as the bandits reportedly grew to about 100 in strength because of reinforcements.

Regional police spokesman Supt. Danilo Bacas said the firefight was still ongoing as of 3:30 pm yesterday.

“The encounter was sporadic. The firefight raged on and off until the afternoon,” Teodor said.

Teodoro said he was already planning to send in personnel from his unit to augment the two companies from the 8th MBLT that was engaged in the firefight.

Bacas said the ASG was reportedly led by Furuji Indama, a sub-leader of the group who was among the suspects in the attack and beheading of Marine troopers in the neighboring town of Al-Barkah last July 10.

Indama was initially reported by the military to have been killed in an encounter in August but they retracted it after seeing Indama in the encounters that followed.

The Philippine military has stepped up its offensives in Basilan, as well as in Sulu, following the July 10 incident, which was allegedly perpetrated also by MILF elements. It even launched humanitarian projects alongside the offensive operations as part of a wholistic approach in dealing with the terrorist group in the area./DMS