PH military eyes to ‘flush out’ terrorists by yearend

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine military is looking to eradicate terrorists in Sulu by yearend.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the military has “huge operations” underway in Sulu to flush out the Abu Sayyaf.

“We’re giving them three months to six months or the rest of the year,” he told CNN Philippines’ The Source on Monday.

He said their aim is to “contain” the terrorists there so they cannot move outside Sulu then go to Visayas or Metro Manila.

Last week, the military also said it has monitored 7 foreign terrorists scattered in Basilan, Sulu and Central Mindanao.

“They are very dangerous people, especially this group that came from Syria because a lot of them are getting out of Syria because their territory is getting smaller… We are really monitoring them… We’re bringing in more troops for the operation,” Lorenzana said.

The military is also looking at a report that there are 100 more foreign jihadists hiding in Mindanao, but the defense chief doubts the information.

“According to our troops, our commanders in Central Mindanao, they cannot see where these 100 people are hiding because if there are so many of them, then they will be very obvious… We have fielded a lot of our intelligence people there, plus talking to the civilians, especially the Moro Islamic Liberation Front because they are with us now and there is no confirmation,” he said./ac