Brig. Gen. Nehemias Pajarito, Army 104th Brigade commander, said the Abu Sayyaf and its leaders have been moving away from military combat zones.
"We have achieved our secondary mission to establish control in all the camps of the Abu Sayyaf that fell to our ground forces," he said. "They have no area and they have been on the run."
Pajarito said with the 200-strong Abu Sayyaf in disarray, the military is now focusing on the elimination of its leaders.
"We breached their ring of defense and they are on the run," he said. "The elimination of their leadership continues and (we will) destroy them as an organization."
Pajarito said the military offensive has prevented the Abu Sayyaf from engaging in terrorist activities, kidnapping, and from sowing fear among the population.
However, Pajarito could not give a time frame when the military could completely flush out the Abu Sayyaf from the strife-torn island-province of Sulu.
Among the Abu Sayyaf leaders still at large are one-armed commander Radulan Sahiron, Umbra Jumdail alias Dr. Abu Pula, and Albader Parad, a cousin of Mujib Susukan who took over command, with their sub-leaders.
Troops have overrun at least four key Abu Sayyaf camps after more than a month of fighting that resumed Nov. 11, leaving nine soldiers killed and 38 wounded.
The seized camps are Karawan, Lanaw Dakula, Tumatangis and Buansa in Sulu.
Earlier, the military said Abu Sayyaf terrorists have been abandoning their camps in Sulu one by one to elude advancing troops.
Lt. Gen. Samuel Bagasin, Armed Forces deputy chief of staff, said the soldiers have overrun a number of Abu Sayyaf camps as they step up the hunt for the terrorists.
"So there was a major encounter recently and this indicates that the Abu Sayyaf is being cornered in interior areas of Indanan, Sulu," he said.
Bagasin said the Abu Sayyaf, in launching attacks against government and civilian installations, are slowly depleting their limited resources.
"We expect them to be depleting their resources, just like in previous offensives that they have been doing," he said in an earlier interview.
"This is the first time that they have launched offensive, they lost steam after a while because logistics gets depleted."
However, Bagasin said the Abu Sayyaf could easily replenish its logistics.
"Of course, they are a well organized armed force just like the AFP, which can replenish our logistics systematically," he said.
Bagasin said Armed Forces chief Gen. Generoso Senga had instructed military field commanders to intensify combat operations against the Abu Sayyaf.
"We’ve been losing some people, well this is part of guerrilla warfare, but it does not mean to say that we are losing the war; we are not losing the war but we are losing some battles," he said.
Intelligence reports said the Abu Sayyaf has linked up with the Indonesia-based Jemaah Islamiyah in carrying out criminal activities like the Valentine’s Day bombings in Makati and key cities in Mindanao.
Early this year, an Abu Sayyaf commander was killed in a clash with troops in Barangay Semot, Tuburan, Basilan.
Tanakalun Lianson alias Tari-Tari, was killed as militiamen led by a Staff Sergeant Precioso caught up with his band and engaged them in a 15-minute firefight.
Lianson’s men withdrew after he was killed. — Roel Pareño