2 more Sayyaf members arrested in Zambo

Authorities in Zamboanga arrested yesterday two suspected Abu Sayyaf bandits who were supposed to be buying weapons and ammunition for their beleaguered comrades on Basilan island.

While police refused to identify the two suspected bandits, Senior Superintendent Damming Ungga said the two were based in Basilan and were likely members of the bandit group that was being pursued by government forces on the island.

Authorities have also seized several high-powered assault rifles and thousands of assorted ammunition from an Abu Sayyaf safehouse in a remote village in Maasim, Sarangani.

This developed as government troops clashed with some 30 heavily armed Abu Sayyaf bandits in Lantawan, Basilan as the military intensified its operations against the Abu Sayyaf extremists who are holding 22 captives, including American couple Martin and Gracia Burnham from Kansas.

Police said the military’s operation has forced the Abu Sayyaf to send some members to Zamboanga City to purchase arms and ammunition.

Ungga said the two suspected bandits who were arrested were "sub-leaders" of the bandit group and were captured in Barangay Baliwasan Chico after residents tipped off the police.

The two men are suspected of soliciting ransom payments from the families of hostages and were still undergoing interrogation yesterday.

Maj. Julieto Ando, Army 6th Infantry Division (ID) spokesman, said the police and military also conducted a joint operation in Maasim, Sarangani on Tuesday and seized four M-16 rifles, two M-14 rifles, four M-203 rifles, a shoulder-fired M-79 grenade launcher, three baby Armalites and a caliber .45 pistol.

Ando said the suspects were believed to be followers of Abu Sayyaf chieftain Nadzmie Sabtullah, alias Commander Global, but managed to escape before the raiding group could surround their hideout.

Ando said the raid was conducted by the Philippine National Police regional command and intelligence units of the 601st Army Brigade and the 6th ID.

The firearms were neatly piled inside a house in Barangay Daliao, a secluded village in Maasim, some 200 kilometers southeast of Cotabato City.

Ando said more than 2,000 rounds of assorted ammunition, including M-79 grenade projectiles, were also found inside the safehouse.

The arrest of two bandits and the seizure of munitions came as the military intensified its operations in Basilan by deploying highly trained special teams that are believed to be forward units of an offensive the military is preparing against the Abu Sayyaf.

Sources said the military started injecting the special teams beginning Tuesday night as other military units continued to step up its pursuit of the bandit group.

The fighting in Lantawan erupted at about 6:30 a.m. yesterday when troops cordoning the Sampinit complex mountain range chanced upon the 30 bandits who are believed to be forward units of the Abu Sayyaf.

The fighting left two soldiers wounded as with a still undetermined number of bandits, according to Basilan PNP director Superintendent Akmadul Pangambayan.

Army Maj. Alberto Gepilano, spokesman for Task Force Comet that is pursuing the bandits and their hostages, said government troops were still fighting the enemy as of noon yesterday.

Meanwhile, the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) denied yesterday that its guerrillas are currently training in Afghanistan along with about 50 Abu Sayyaf bandits.

In a radio interview, MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said their group has not sent any of its members to Afghanistan since the 1980s at the height of the Mindanao secessionist uprising.

"It is not true that MILF members are being trained in Afghanistan together with the Abu Sayyaf. This is part of the disinformation to link the MILF with the Abu Sayyaf," Kabalu said.

"Yes, we had trainees in Afghanistan but this was during the height of the armed conflict in the ’80s. These trainees have returned to our country," Kabalu said.

The military has repeatedly complained some units of the MILF and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) are preventing government troops from pursuing the Abu Sayyaf and their hostages.

While both the MILF and MNLF have condemned the Abu Sayyaf, the military said some MILF and MNLF guerrillas have been seen helping some Abu Sayyaf members who are believed to be their relatives or friends.

Government troops again clashed with another MNLF unit yesterday in the jungle barangay of Matikang, Basilan, resulting in the death of two former MNLF rebels and the wounding of four others.

But Gepilano said the soldiers were pursuing Abu Sayyaf bandts when the MNLF fired on the government troops.

"The troops were running after the terrorists in the area. Our soldiers were attacked by gunmen and this triggered the fighting," Gepilano said. – With Paolo Romero