ZAMBOANGA CITY – The number of Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) fatalities in the military sea and air strikes on Tuesday (November 3), off Sulare Island in Sulu rose to 14.
This was disclosed by Armed Forces of the Philippines-Western Mindanao Command (AFP-WesMinCom) Chief Lt. Gen. Corleto Vinluan Jr., who said that 10 hours after a naval gunboat rammed an ASG boat and killed seven armed terrorists aboard Tuesday dawn, seven more ASG terrorists were neutralized in another encounter at sea.
Vinluan said the second ASG boat was believed to be the back-up of the first watercraft that engaged government troops that resulted in the killing of seven terrorists reportedly on a kidnap mission.
He said a navy gunboat fired and rammed the second ASG jungkung boat cutting the vessel in half.
A junkung is a small wooden motorized boat used by the Tausug, SamaBajau, and Yakan tribes.
It is a fast cargo ship commonly used as a smuggling vessel in the maritime borders of the Philippines, Sabah, Malaysia and Eastern Indonesia aside from being used by pirates and Abu Sayyaf terrorists in and around the Sulu Sea Vinluan said among those killed in the second sea strike were Madsmar Sawadjaan, brother of notorious bomb maker Mundi Sawadjaan; and Mannul Sawadjaan, alias Abu Amara, who is believed to be the successor of Hajan Sawadjaan, the emir of the bandit group.
The first encounter between the ASG and government forces lasted for 25 minutes at dawn Tuesday that led to the sinking of the bandits’ watercraft.
According to a military report, the ASG were heading to mainland Mindanao purportedly to conduct kidnapping activities.
Vinluan said navy troops were conducting a search and retrieval operation at the encounter site on board gun boat BA491 when they spotted the second jungkong boat of the ASG off Sulare Island in Sulu with seven ASG gunmen onboard.
The navy gun boat picked up speed while firing at the jungkong boat, until it rammed the ASG’s boat in half.
“The boat was cut in half with only the front portion remaining afloat while the rear must have sunk during the ramming by the navy shipBA493,” Vinluan said.
Vinluan said navy troops immediately searched for the remaining half of the jungkong boat, and recovered M4 rifles with M203 grenade launchers, an M4A1 rifle, five backpacks with assorted items inside, two M14 long magazines, two M14 short magazines, four bandoliers, two jungle bolo, two sledgehammers, two boat paddle, two empty containers (plastic gallons), one power bank, two empty shells of M203 ammunition, and one Go Pro camera with a memory card. It was not clear if the military suffered any casualty during the sea and air strike.
Joint Task Force (JTF) Sulu Commander Maj. Gen. William Gonzales said air, naval, and ground troops are continuously conducting retrieval operation in the area.
“We will continue to conduct military operations, maximize intelligence monitoring, and exhaust all means to preempt the terroristic activities to the Abu Sayyaf Group in Sulu,” Vinluan emphasized.