Abu Sayyaf arms cache found

ZAMBOANGA CITY — Government troops found a cache of ammunition and explosives believed to belong to the Abu Sayyaf in a shallow pit in a remote barangay in Basilan.

The soldiers dug up the buried ordnance last Thursday following a tip from residents.

Lt. Gen. Narciso Abaya, Armed Forces Southern Command chief, said the seizure of the ammunition and explosives is a big blow to the Abu Sayyaf.

The cache is believed to be intended for Abu Sayyaf holdouts in Basilan, he added.

Reports said the dynamite had come from Malaysia and bore the trademark of Superdyne Explosive Idlindoistries Ltd. Roulkela.

Southcom spokesman Lt. Col. Daniel Lucero said troops recovered 13 rounds of 60mm mortar ammunition and 113 pieces of dynamite at around 10 a.m. at Sitio Bohe Susulan, Barangay Lower Sinangkapan in Tuburan town.

"Based on the monitoring we gathered that the stocks of ammunition were hidden by the group of Abu Sayyaf leader Commander Sattar Yacub," he said.

Yacub was captured in August last year west of Zamboanga City while nursung bullet wounds sustained in a gunbattle off Sirawai, Zamboanga del Norte in which Abu Sayyaf leader Abu Sabaya was killed.

Yacub was reportedly trying to reinforce Sabaya and his men who were being pursued by Navy commandos as part of efforts to rescue American missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham and Filipino nurse Ediborah Yap.

Martin and Yap died during the rescue operation on June 7 last year but Gracia survived.

In Davao del Sur, New People’s Army rebels burned a sugar cane plantation in Sitio Almendras, Barangay Astorga in Sta. Cruz town last Thursday.

Reports said the rebels swooped down on the plantation at about 8:48 p.m. and set fire to the sugar cane field before fleeing to the hills.

Troops arrived at the scene of the fighting at around 9:30 p.m. –Roel Pareño, Mike Frialde, AFP