ZAMBOANGA CITY—Two more Abu Sayyaf members were killed as government forces continue to pound the group of bandit sub-leader Alhabsy Misaya in Sulu, a report from the Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) said Wednesday.
The clash between soldiers and Misaya’s group started on Tuesday.
Westmincom said soldiers were being backed by air assets as they close in on Misaya’s group in Barangay (village) Pugad Manaul in Panamao on Wednesday.
One soldier was also injured in the clashes.
On Tuesday, soldiers killed siblings Nixon and Brown Muktadil during an operation in Pata town.
READ: 2 Abu Sayyaf men linked to foreign seamen’s kidnap killed in Sulu
Maj. Filemon Tan Jr., the spokesperson of the military’s Westmincom, said soldiers conducting anti-Abu Sayyaf operation on Tambulian Island caught up with the Muktadils and killed them both in the process.
“The Muktadil brothers were involved in the series of kidnappings victimizing 26 Indonesians and Malaysians on high seas in the boundaries of Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines,” Tan said.
He said the deaths of the Muktadil brothers served as a major blow to Misaya’s group because the siblings served as sea guides and navigators during the group’s conduct of high-seas kidnappings. RAM