7 Sayyaf rebels killed

At least seven Abu Sayyaf bandits were killed when heavy fighting marked by airstrikes erupted as government forces caught up with brigands believed responsible for Thursday night’s reign of terror in a Christian community in Isabela, Basilan.

Reports reaching the Armed Forces’ Southern Command (Southcom) headquarters in Zamboanga City indicated that the number of fatalities on the Abu Sayyaf side could be higher as the troops pressed their assault.

Local residents said se-veral Abu Sayyaf gunmen were also wounded in the bombardment by helicopter gunships.

The intense fighting took place just hours after the troops rescued 13 Abu Sayyaf hostages, remnants of a group of 36 villagers seized in a raid by the terrorists on the predominantly Christian Balobo village on the outskirts of the capital Isabela.

Col. Hermogenes Esperon, commander of the Army’s 103rd Infantry Brigade and concurrent chief of Task Force Tornado undertaking the offensive against the Abu Sayyaf kidnappers in Basilan, said the troops were conducting mopping-up operations as of presstime.

Esperon indicated that the troops inflicted heavy damage on the terrorists, but did not elaborate.

With the hostages out of harm’s way, Esperon said they could now pounce on the Abu Sayyaf kidnappers with all their firepower.

He said the two helicopter gunships were still on standby for further air raids against the enemy.

Southcom chief Lt. Gen. Gregorio Camiling said as the offensive was being pressed against the Balobo raiders, a larger unit continued to close in on the main Abu Sayyaf band led by Khadaffy Janjalani and Abu Sabaya who abducted 21 people, three of them Americans, from the posh resort of Dos Palmas in Palawan last May 27.

Four of the Dos Palmas hostages, including American missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham, remained in the hands of the Abu Sayyaf. Sabaya said they had beheaded the third American, Guillermo Sobero, 40, of Corona, California but his body has never been found.

Two Filipino hostages, both employees of Dos Palmas, were also decapitated, along with two of 15 plantation workers who were seized later in Lantawan town.

The rest were either freed amid rumors of ransom payments or were rescued by pursuing soldiers and policemen.

At least 21 hostages, including the Burnhams, were believed to be still held by Janjalani’s group which was holed up in the mountainous Sampinit complex in central Basilan.

The Abu Sayyaf marauders also grabbed four hospital workers from Lamitan town as they fled fighting with the soldiers in early June.

The Abu Sayyaf said the raid on Balobo was in retaliation to a government crackdown on their supporters in Zamboanga City, Basilan and Sulu island.

Camiling said the rescue of the 13 hostages last Sunday boosted the morale of the troops who were anticipating further skirmishes with the terrorists.

In a bid to justify the protracted all-out operations against the Abu Sayyaf, Camiling said they were fighting a guerrilla war, not a conventional one.

Meanwhile, Armed Forces spokesman Brig. Gen. Edilberto Adan said the Abu Sayyaf raid on Balobo marked by the beheading of 10 of the hostages was a "temporary setback" for the government.

Adan reiterated the military’s earlier predictions of a major encounter with the main Abu Sayyaf group holding the remaining Dos Palmas hostages, the four hospital workers and the 13 workers of Golden Harvest plantation.

"The terrorists are having a hard time moving and we expect an encounter soon," Adan said.

He said the 10-week-old hunt for the Dos Palmas raiders has cut the Abu Sayyaf supply line and has considerably slowed them down.

Some 5,000 soldiers have been tracking down Janjalani’s band since early June.

In a pre-dawn attack on Sunday, soldiers rescued the 13 Balobo hostages, consisting of six women and seven children who were abandoned by their captors at the height of the fighting.

Ten of the initial batch of 36 Balobo hostages have been beheaded, while 11 were freed hours later to relay the bandits’ demand for a halt in the all-out crackdown on their supporters and sympathizers, while two managed to escape.

Adan clarified, however, that only 33 were seized in Thursday’s attack on Balobo, and all have been accounted for, 10 of them minus their heads.

Additional troops

The government is poised to beef up military presence in Basilan even as more militiamen or members of the Citizen’s Armed Forces and Geographical Units (CAFGUs) would be recruited to further tighten the screws against the Abu Sayyaf terrorists.

Adan said the 5,000 troops now in Basilan appeared to be inadequate to bring an early end to the Abu Sayyaf’s reign of terror in the South.

He said the additional manpower was vital although the Abu Sayyaf was beginning to feel the pressure of the relentless military offensive.

"They (Abu Sayyaf) are having a hard time moving and we expect an encounter anytime and hopefully this will result in the rescue of the hostages," Adan told reporters.

The military was fast-tracking the training of more militiamen at a boot camp in Isabela for future deployment as community defense forces.

Six companies of new militia recruits are currently undergoing training with five more companies to follow suit to help defend their respective communities against the Abu Sayyaf.

Adan said at least 24 companies of militiamen would be trained for deployment in Mindanao.

Adan also said a shipment of additional firearms was on its way to Basilan.

With supply routes cut and their mass-base support demolished, the Abu Sayyaf rebels have split into smaller groups that forage in remote villages, Adan said.

He also said the bandits and their captives have been subsisting mainly on rice and salt.

He added that the troops were confident they would soon catch up with the main Abu Sayyaf band holding the remaining Dos Palmas hostages, along with the four hospital employees and 13 plantation workers.

"We know that they (hostages) are haggard. They are oftentimes hungry. They eat what the terrorists eat. They only eat a plateful of rice with a tablespoon of salt for their meals," Adan said.

GMA defends AFP

President Arroyo defended the military against criticisms that it has been performing badly against the Abu Sayyaf.

In a radio interview, the President hit back at the opposition for misleading the public into thinking the military has been bungling its operations to rescue the Abu Sayyaf hostages.

"When the opposition was in power, many also died and it took four months before the first hostage was released," Mrs. Arroyo said. "In our case, so many hostages have already been freed, and we’re still far from four months."

Presidential Spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao appealed to the public and the opposition to give the military a chance to prove itself, adding the conditions in Basilan make any rescue operation very difficult.

Mrs. Arroyo gave assurances that competent officials have been assigned to handle the current hostage crisis and that the government remained on top of the situation.

Meanwhile, at least two Abu Sayyaf bandits were reported killed in a clash with government troops in Talipao town in Sulu province.

Col. Romeo Tolentino, commander of the Army’s 104th Brigade, said about 20 Abu Sayyaf gunmen belonging to the band of Ghalib Andang alias Commander Robot, walked right into an entrapment laid by the soldiers in Barangay Kutong. – With reports from Christina Mendez, Paolo Romero