Clash erupts in hunt for Jolo bombing brains

Five soldiers and three Abu Sayyaf bandits, including a suspected foreign terrorist, were killed on Saturday in a two-hour gun battle in Patikul, Sulu province, after government troops assaulted the lair of the suspected brains behind the Jan. 27 bombing of a Catholic church in Jolo.

Five other soldiers from the Army’s 5th Scout Ranger Battalion and 13 Abu Sayyaf terrorists were wounded in the clash at Sitio Sungkog, Barangay Kabbon Takas, Patikul, that started at 11:20 a.m., said Lt. Col. Gerald Monfort, spokesperson for the military’s Joint Task Force Sulu.

Among the wounded was Indang Susukan, the notorious Abu Sayyaf subgroup leader who was linked to various murders and kidnappings in the province, Monfort said.

Susukan’s commander, Hatib Hajan Sawadjaan, escaped during the fierce gun battle.

Also on Saturday, Air Force OV-10 attack planes and BO-105 gunships pounded known marshland encampments of the Islamic State (IS)-inspired Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) in Maguindanao province.

Self-proclaimed ‘caliph’

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and Interior Secretary Eduardo Año earlier described Sawadjaan, the target of the military assault in Patikul, as the self-proclaimed “caliph” of the IS jihadis in Sulu.

Sawadjaan’s group is said to be the only Abu Sayyaf faction that harbors foreign IS terrorists.

Año on Friday said Sawadjaan’s group guided and assisted the Indonesian couple who carried out the “suicide bombing” at the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cathedral in Jolo.

Monfort identified the foreign terrorist who was killed on Saturday as “Abu Black.”

“As of now, we can’t tell the nationality of Abu Black, but he is a known foreign terrorist” who operated in Cotabato, he said.

Año said security forces were monitoring another foreign suicide bomber in Sawadjaan’s group in Patikul, an “Arab-looking” man who “could be Egyptian or Yemeni and had a Tausug wife.”

Monfort said the military had not recovered a single enemy body at the scene of the clash due to the “volume of enemy fire,” but insisted that the number of slain bandits was accurate based on “clear visual shots” reported by the troops.

Lt. Col. Marlo Jomalesa, commander of the Scout Rangers’ assault troops, believed that Sawadjaan was at the hinterland camp when the gunfight started, according to Monfort.

“Pursuit operations will be continued. As of now, we have taken one of [the bandits’] lairs,” he said.

Col. Gerry Besana, public affairs officer of the Western Mindanao Command, said the Scout Rangers clashed with around 100 members of Sawadjaan’s group.

Sulu’s provincial social welfare office said the number of internally displaced families from the villages of Patikul had swelled to more than 1,000 on Saturday, from around 400 with 1,197 dependents on Monday, when President Duterte ordered an all-out offensive following the twin church blasts.

Displaced families

The majority of the displaced families came from the remote barangays of Bongkaong and Upper Latih, which the military had earlier identified as “a haven” for the Abu Sayyaf.

Hindun Angsa, the provincial social welfare officer, said the families were evacuated to Lower Latih, a barangay located at the boundary of Jolo and Patikul.

Many of the evacuees resented the disruption in their lives for the problem that originated in Jolo.

“Why are we being made to suffer for the problems of Jolo?” said Sabor Abdulhalim, 57, a farmer.

Lorna Albani, barangay chair of Lower Latih, said they had been taking care of more than 400 displaced families since 2017 because of military operations.

“We have 417 families who evacuated here and there was no advise to allow the return of evacuees to their respective barangays,” Albani said.

Pendakong Hadjirol, 61, a grandmother, said she was tired of having to evacuate every time the military operated in her village.

“We evacuated in 2017 and [returned only] in 2018. Now we were ordered to come down [from Upper Latih] because there was another military operation. I don’t know why the bombing in Jolo made everyone suffer,” Hadjirol said.

In Maguindanao, two OV-10 attack planes dropped at least eight 250-pound bombs to flush out BIFF terrorists from their positions in the marshy areas of Sultan sa Barongis town, said Maj. Arvin Encinas, spokesperson for the Army’s 6th Infantry Division.

Full alert

Residents in nearby Pigcawayan town in North Cotabato also reported seeing two FA-50 light attack jets dropping bombs on Liguasan Marsh early Saturday.

“We were able to hit their lair. I am waiting for the reports coming from the ground,” Encinas said.

Troops in Maguindanao were placed on full alert following intelligence reports that 40 foreign jihadis had entered the region, said Maj. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana, the military commander in the area.

“The Islamic State-linked [BIFF] fighters operates in these provinces. The group is behind the series of bombings in the region,” Sobejana said.