Two soldiers were wounded when Army Special Forces fought 60 Abu Sayyaf terrorists in the jungles of Talipao on Jolo island on Monday.
Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro, Armed Forces public information chief, said Abu Sayyaf commander Abu Sulaiman, who carries a $5-million reward on his head, was wounded in the hour-long fighting on Mt. Dajo in Talipao.
Soldiers found 17 bunkers and bomb-making tools in the camp, he added.
Sulaiman’s band is believed to be one of those protecting Jemaah Islamiyah bomb making experts Dulmatin, who goes by one name, and Umar Patek, who are being hunted by government forces in the jungles of Sulu.
Last week, troops killed Abu Sayyaf commander Binang Sali, who led an urban terror unit, in a shootout in Patikul town in Sulu.
Earlier this month, Navy commandos and Marines killed a key aide of Dulmatin, and five Abu Sayyaf terrorists in a high speed shootout in waters off the Tawi-Tawi islands.
Dulmatin and Patek are believed to be behind the Oct. 2, 2002 bombing in Bali, Indonesia, killing 202 people, mostly Australians.
Last month, the military said it had recovered human remains that could belong to Khadaffy Janjalani, the head of the Abu Sayyaf, although the US government is still conducting DNA tests to determine if the body is really Janjalani’s.
Meanwhile, US troops in the country are engaged in anti-terrorism training and humanitarian activities, not combat operations, the Armed Forces said yesterday.
Maj. Gen. Jose Angel Honrado, AFP spokesman, said the Constitution bans US troops from taking part in combat operations in the Philippines.
"They are just involved in training our troops, civil military operations, humanitarian activities, setting up deep wells and construction of school buildings which are allowed under the Visiting Forces Agreement," he said.
Honrado said US troops in Mindanao provide technical intelligence to Filipino soldiers pursuing the Abu Sayyaf led by Janjalani and suspected Jemaah Islamiyah bomb experts Dulmatin and Patek. — James Mananghaya, Roel Pareño, AP, AFP