Army says 14 Abu Sayyaf bandits killed in 2-week clash

ZAMBOANGA CITY—The military on Saturday claimed that 14 Abu Sayyaf bandits had been killed while four others had been arrested in clashes during the past two weeks in Sulu and Basilan.

Twenty-nine soldiers were also wounded in two separate clashes in Sulu this week alone, Captain Jo-Ann Petinglay, the spokesperson of Western Mindanao Command, said.

Petinglay said despite the high number of military casualties, the number of slain Abu Sayyaf members indicated that the military was gaining ground in its anti-terror campaign in Sulu and Basilan.

But Petinglay admitted that none of the slain bandits had been recovered.

“Although there were no body counts recovered, the locals provided the information to operating troops that bandits carried with them their wounded and some were immediately buried in separate areas near the encounter sites,” she said.

Petinglay described the clashes in Sulu on Thursday and Friday; and in Basilan on February 27 as major ones.

Col. Juvymax Uy, the commander of the Task Force Basilan, said four Abu Sayyaf members were arrested on February 27. During a follow up operation, soldiers stumbled on a makeshift camp with 30 bunkers and 16 foxholes.