MANILA, Philippines — At least 14 Philippine marines and Abu Sayyaf militants were killed in a clash in a new U.S.-backed offensive aimed at rescuing six foreign and Filipino hostages and stopping the al-Qaida-linked gunmen from staging more kidnappings in the country’s south, a military commander said Sunday.
At least seven Marines and four Abu Sayyaf extremists have been killed in a clash amid an offensive against al-Qaida-linked gunmen accused of carrying out recent kidnappings in Mindanao, a military official said.
The axe has fallen on the police chief of Sulu for allegedly failing to contain the violent clashes between armed supporters of local candidates in the province during last Monday’s elections.
A voter was killed while five others were wounded when unidentified men fired at a convoy of voters in Tiptipon village in Panglima Estino town in Sulu on Monday morning.
The province of Sulu has been added to the list of areas of concern by the Commission on Elections (Comelec), chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. told reporters Monday.
The Aquino administration has started preparations to prevent a possible humanitarian crisis that may arise from the crackdown of the Malaysian government on the supporters of Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III in Sabah.
When the government signed a preliminary peace deal with Moro rebels in October last year, it didn’t expect that one of the guests in Malacañang would cause an international crisis and deprive President Aquino of sleep.
The diplomatic and security crisis created by Jamalul Kiram III’s sending a group of armed followers to Sabah to claim the land has revived an age-old question here: Who is the real sultan of Sulu?
A local businessman who was kidnapped here in January was freed by his captors in Sulu on Friday morning, said Senior Supt. Edwin De Ocampo, city police director.
The Sandiganbayan has ordered the arrest of Panglima Estino, Sulu, Mayor Munib Estino on charges of homicide and obstruction of justice that were filed in the Office of the Ombudsman last month.
The guns are silent for now between the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group but the military will secure the area to prevent a possible spillover of hostilities should the fighting erupt again.
Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales ordered the filing of homicide and obstruction of justice charges against the municipal mayor of Pang Lima Estino, Sulu and his close-in security escort for the death of a resident in the area in 2010.
A 10-foot crocodile with a wide gash near its belly was flown from its home in Indanan, Sulu, to Manila aboard a C-130 Philippine Air Force cargo plane to be treated for its injury.
