AFP overruns Abu training camp in Sulu

ZAMBOANGA CITY — Government troops overran yesterday a training camp and bomb-making facility of the Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) militants after military forces bombarded the terrorist enclave with air strikes and artillery fire in a remote jungle in Indanan, Sulu, a military official reported.

Brig. Gen. Juancho Sabban, commander of the anti-terrorist Task Force Comet, said the ground forces seized the camp before noon at sitio Kandilamon, Barangay Cagay in Indanan.

“The troops overran the JI and Abu Sayyaf bomb-making and training facility shortly before noon following the air strike launched by our forces,” Sabban said.

Sabban said one member of the Marines sustained superficial wounds in the legs after ground units attacked the rebel camp after the artillery barrage.

He said the troops recovered several documents, cellular telephones, and some explosives.

“The artillery fire directly hit the base that resulted to the explosion of volumes of explosives used by the terrorists in bomb-making,” Sabban said.

The military staged another major operation against suspected JI and Abu Sayyaf rebels, attacking with rockets and howitzers the bomb facility and training camp Wednesday after the terrorists’ base was confirmed.

Combined units of the Light Reaction Company (LRC), Army Special Forces of the Joint Special Operation Group (JSOG), and the 3rd Marine Brigade attacked the rebel base.

Maj. Eugene Batara Jr., spokesman for Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom), said MG-520 attack helicopters fired rounds of rockets against the fortified Abu Sayyaf and JI position.

“Rounds of 105 mm howitzers were also delivered to soften the militants’ positions,” Batara said.

He said there were reports of casualties among the militants but the information is still being verified.

The training and bomb-making facility was monitored following more than a month of surveillance.

Military sources disclosed that the bomb-making facility of the JI and Abu Sayyaf was discovered with the technical surveillance assistance from the US military deployed in the area.

Batara said the military received information that the bomb-making facility and training camp was run by the JI’s Umar Patek and Abu Sayyaf’s Radullan Sahiron.

Sources said that the Abu Sayyaf group was led by a young radical leader identified as Albader Parad.

Patek and Dulmatin, both Indonesian terrorists who are wanted for the 2002 bombings in Bali, Indonesia that killed 202 foreign tourists, have been in hiding in Sulu under the protection of the Abu Sayyaf.  – With James Mananghaya