Fighting breaks out between troops, Sayyaf in Patikul

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines  - Fighting sparked when the Abu Sayyaf group fired at the military helicopter providing supply to marines shortly before noon Thursday in the jungle of Patikul, Sulu, according to security officials.

Col. Jose Joriel Cenabre, commanding officer of the 2nd Marine Brigade and Task Force Sulu, said the government troops immediately launched airstrike with two MG-520 attack helicopters pounding with rockets and machinegun fire the position of the Abu Sayyaf militants at Barangay Tambang.

He said the Philippine Air Force (PAF) helicopters were providing logistical supply and transport to marine troops based in the Abu Sayyaf-infested area of Patikul when they were fired upon about 11 a.m. Thursday.

“No one was hit when the aircraft was fired upon,” Cenabre said.

He said the troops spotted the hostile ground location sending two MG520 attack helicopters and marines on the ground,  pummeling the militants’ positions.

Cenabre said they  have yet to determine the number of casualty suffered by the Abu Sayyaf group as the operation is still under way.

Police Senior Inspector Kris Conrad Gutierrez, public information officer of the Sulu Police Provincial Office, confirmed there is an ongoing firefight on the ground.

“As of now,  we can hear gun fires from the distance,” Gutierrez said.

Both police and military did not say if the fighting was in connection with the search and rescue efforts for the abducted two Filipino-Algerian sisters Nadjoua and Linda Bansil, both independent filmmakers.

Police authorities disclosed the two kidnapped Filipino-Algerians sisters were allegedly  escorted by personalities with connections to the Abu Sayyaf group prior to their abduction when they arrived in Jolo, Sulu province.

Police Senior Superintendent Abraham Orbita, acting Sulu provincial police director, said the Bansils, who are members of the Tausug Citizen under the Sultanate of Sulu Darul Islam (SSDI),  left for Mt. Sinumaan, a known bailiwick of the Abu Sayyaf Group in Patikul and stayed there overnight with the same group that escorted them on June 23.

However, the next morning they were abducted after leaving Mt. Sinumaan in Sitio Bauno, Barangay Liang, Patikul, Sulu, while on their way to Jolo town proper, said Orbita.

The police also said the two failed to coordinate with authorities regarding their movement in the province.

Orbita said police and marines have been conducting pursuit operations to locate and recover the victims, while, appropriate charges are being readied by police investigators handling the case.

He said there has been no ransom demand received by the family of the victims.