Marine killed as Abus attack military engineers

ZAMBOANGA CITY , Philippines  – A Marine was killed while another was wounded when troops repulsed an ambush attempt by Abu Sayyaf bandits on military engineers in Indanan, Sulu Monday, a military official here.

The incident happened a week after two US soldiers and a Filipino Marine were killed in a roadside landmine explosion in the same town.

Maj. Ramon David Hontiveros, spokesman of Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom), said the Marines were clearing the way to provide security for their engineering team to repair a Sala’am Bridge (Bridge of Peace) bombed by the extremists in Barangay Bato-Bato, Indanan town when they were attacked, triggering a firefight.

Hontiveros confirmed that a soldier was killed while another was wounded and airlifted to the Camp Navarro General Hospital here.

“The Marines thwarted the Abu Sayyaf ambush attempt and rendered undetermined casualties as monitored by the operating troops,” he said.

Amid the threats to the non-combatant military engineers, the rehabilitation of the damaged bridge has been postponed.

“Apparently, the enemy did not want the people to benefit from the bridge, hence they prevented our engineers from repairing it,” he said.

The firefight came barely two hours after a separate armed group under the faction of rebel leader Habier Malik shelled a Marine detachment in Barangay Bitan-ag, Panamao town before noon Monday. There were no casualties on the government side.

Maj. Gen. Ben Dolorfino, Westmincom chief, said security has been intensified in Sulu, with additional troops from the 7th Marine Battalion Landing Team deployed in the province. – With Edith Regalado