Abu Sayyaf. AFP FILE PHOTO
SIXTY-FOUR members of the Abu Sayyaf were killed in military operations in Sulu in the last five months, the regional military said.
Colonel Allan Arrojado, commander of Joint Task Group Sulu, attributed the gains from their “relentless operations.”
“We searched their hideouts and we have good intelligence and well-coordinated focused military operations involving the Marines, Army, Navy and Air Force,” he said.
The AFP also reported 104 bandits were wounded in the last five months. In the government side, nine soldiers were killed in action and 69 were wounded on the same period, the accomplishment report said.
However, about 400 terrorists are still roaming on the island province.
“We have identified 246 armed members, with names and photos but there are about 200 more who are unidentified. The village sympathizers and supporters are still not included,” he said.
The military launched all out offensives against the terrorist group last October after the release of its German captives.
Early this year, the military leadership claimed that the Abu Sayyaf strength stood at about 400 in the whole Western Mindanao.
But Arrojado said this did not mean that the Abu Sayyaf membership is growing.
“It just happened that we identified a lot of them based on our intelligence operations and that is our estimate… We just need to sustain our operations against them,” he said.
The Abu Sayyaf is also known for holding local and foreign hostages. Nine local kidnap victims of the Abu Sayyaf either escaped or released since January. There are still 13 foreign and local hostages in the hands of the terrorists. AC