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Southeast Asia
Eight soldiers injured in clash with Abus in Sulu
2019-11-18
[SunStar] Eight Philippine soldiers were injured as the troops clashed anew with Abu Sayyaf militants on Wednesday while military operations against the rebels continue in the province of Sulu.

Western Mindanao Command chief Cirilito Sobejana said the battle broke out when the soldiers spotted some 40 Abu Sayyaf rebels while on security operation on Wednesday in Buhanginan Village, Patikul. He said the firefight lasted for about 40 minutes, after which the militants, followers of Hatib Hajan Sawadjaan and Radullan Sahiron, fled dragging along their casualties.

The military are continuously conducting focused military operations in a bid to rescue a number of hostages, including foreigners, from the hands of the Abu Sayyaf bandits in Sulu, Sobejana said.
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Southeast Asia
Abu killed, nine surrender in Basilan
2019-07-19
[Business World] Nine Abu Sayyaf militants surrendered to Philippine troops in Sulu on July 15, the military reported late Wednesday. Upon surrender, they also turned over their weapons consisting of seven high-powered and two low-powered firearms.

Military spokesman Cirilito Sobejana said in a statement, “I would like to attribute this success to the loving people of Sulu who continuously support us in our campaign against the Abu Sayyaf. We anticipate that in the coming days, the remaining bandits will opt to lay down their arms and choose to live a peaceful life,”

Also last Monday, a high-ranking member of the rebel group was killed in Basilan after attempting to evade arrest by government troops. Military spokesman Fernando Reyeg said, “Arod Wahing pulled his gun and grenade when security forces raided his safe house.”

Wahing was one of the suspects in the kidnappings of Dutch Ewold Horn in 2012 and a German couple in 2014. “He is a trusted follower of Abu Sayyaf top leader Radullan Sahiron in Sulu,” Reyeg said, “He, however, fled to Basilan to escape the series of armed engagements with military forces in Sulu.”
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Southeast Asia
Abu faction believed behind Sulu bombing
2019-06-30
[PhilStar] An Abu Sayyaf faction is suspected to be behind a bomb attack on a military camp in Sulu on Friday. Westmincom spokesman Cirilito Sobejana said the group is led by Hatib Hajan Sawadjaan, whose members pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. Sawadjaan's faction was also tagged in the suicide bombing at Mount Carmel Cathedral in Jolo last December, which left 22 people dead and 101 wounded.

He said the other faction is led by Radullan Sahiron.

Sobejana, who arrived at the Westmincom office in this city from Sulu yesterday, said troops conducted an inspection and assessment at the First Brigade Combat Team command post in Barangay Tanjung, the target of the attack.

Sobejana said initial assessment showed that two improvised explosive devices might have been detonated remotely contrary to earlier reports of a suicide bombing. He said, "We are checking the circumstances, we are validating the incident, we wanted to make sure if this was suicide bombing or an IED attack. It can also be that the perpetrators were carrying the bomb and somebody from a distance observed their actions and the actions of the soldiers and triggered remotely the IED."

Meanwhile, the number of those killed and injured in the bombing has increased. The death toll rose from five to seven, including two civilians. The number of those injured increased from 11 to 22.
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Southeast Asia
Dutch hostage killed while trying to escape from militants in Philippines
2019-06-01
[AlAhram] A Dutch photographer held hostage by Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
-linked snuffies in the Philippines since 2012 was killed on Friday by his captors when he tried to escape during a firefight on a remote southern island, the military said.

Ewold Horn, a wildlife photographer, was shot by his guards from the Abu Sayyaf
...also known as al-Harakat al-Islamiyya, an Islamist terror group based in Jolo, Basilan and Zamboanga. Since its inception in the early 1990s, the group has carried out bombings, kidnappings, murders, head choppings, and extortion in their uniquely Islamic attempt to set up an independent Moslem province in the Philippines. Abu Sayyaf forces probably number less than 300 cadres. The group is closely allied with remnants of Indonesia's Jemaah Islamiya and has loose ties with MILF and MNLF who sometimes provide cannon fodder...
 group when he tried to flee during a clash between government troops and the Death Eaters, said Brigadier General Divino Rey Pabayo, commander of a Joint Task Force on Sulu island.

Horn and a fellow photographer, Lorenzo Vinciguerra from Switzerland
...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell...
, were taken captive as they were sailing off an island called Tawi Tawi on a bird-watching trip more than seven years ago and later taken to Sulu. Vinciguerra escaped in 2014.

Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok said the Netherlands had informed Horn’s family.

"I am shocked by this terrible outcome", Blok said, "I have been in contact with the family. I will ask my counterpart in the Philippines for further clarification."

Six snuffies were also killed in the firefight in the town of town of Patikul on Sulu, Pabayo said. The circumstances of the firefight were not immediately clear.

Also killed during the clash on Friday was Mingayan Sahiron, the wife of Radullan Sahiron, a big shot of the Abu Sayyaf, the military said.

Radullan Sahiron is on a U.S. State Department wanted list with a $1 million reward for his capture since his involvement in the kidnapping of U.S. tourists in 2001.

He was believed to have escaped the clash, another military front man said.

The Abu Sayyaf, a small but violent group in the Moslem south of the largely Catholic Philippines, has been known for extortion, kidnappings, beheadings and bombings, and has pledged allegiance to Islamic State snuffies in Iraq and Syria.

It earlier pledged allegiance to the al Qaeda Death Eater group.
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Southeast Asia
12 Abus dead after fierce firefights in Jolo
2019-04-14
[BenarNews] At least 12 Abu Sayyaf militants were killed in a series of clashes with Philippine security forces on the southern island of Jolo.

The violence comes after a Malaysian hostage died from his injuries Tuesday, days after being rescued. An Indonesian perished during the rescue attempt and another Indonesian man was successfully freed. Among those slain was Abu Sayyaf sub-leader Julie Ikit, the cousin and top lieutenant of Abu Sayyaf senior leader Radullan Sahiron, officials said.

Acting on intelligence provided by local residents, soldiers engaged in a series of clashes near the town of Patikul on Jolo Thursday with an enemy force numbering over a hundred fighters. The running gun battle lasted for about an hour, and reports from ground troops indicated that the enemy factions were led by Sahiron and Hatib Hajan Sawadjaan, the overall leader of the Abu Sayyaf faction in Jolo who is believed to have taken over as the new head of the Islamic State in the Philippines.

The battle forced the enemy to withdraw “leaving behind one dead terrorist, later identified as Abu Sayyaf sub leader Julie Ikit,” military spokesman Gerald Monfort said.

Also recovered from the site were a pair of night-vision goggles, some 40 makeshift tents and food and watersupplies – signs that the militants were highly mobile.

“After the first encounter, the 1st Scout Ranger Battalion was deployed to block the terrorists’ withdrawal,” Monfort said, adding that the soldiers cut off the escaping enemy at a remote area, forcing the gunmen to split into smaller groups going into different directions. “The body of another unidentified Abu Sayyaf member was discovered during a quick search of the area.”

The troops then chased one group of the gunmen while the blocking force encountered another splinter group that was escaping.

Intelligence reports from the ground based on radio intercepts said that seven other enemy fighters were killed and up to 19 injured in the initial battles. Three more were added to the enemy death toll by Friday evening.
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Southeast Asia
Eight Philippine soldiers injured in clash with Abu Sayyaf
2018-06-28
[PhilStar] Eight Philippine soldiers were injured in an clash with Abu Sayyaf militants in Patikul, Sulu on Saturday afternoon. Military spokesman Gerry Besana said troops encountered around 40 rebels led by Almujer Jada and Sonny Boy Sajirin in Barangay Bangkal.
They say Sonny Boy is the greatest blues musician in Mindanao.
The military said the rebels also suffered casualties, citing bloodstains on their escape route. War materiel, including an improvised explosive device, were recovered at the scene.

Meanwhile, a suspected follower of Abu Sayyaf leader Radullan Sahiron; Suaib Hayudini, alias Enteng; was arrested in Barangay Walled City, Jolo on Sunday.

Graciano Mijares, the police director for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said the arrest was based on warrants for kidnapping and serious illegal detention and kidnapping with frustrated murder issued in 2003.

Sahiron was tagged in the kidnapping of ten Europeans, nine Malaysians and two Filipinos at a resort on Sipadan island in 2000. The captives were held in Sulu for five months and freed in batches after the alleged payment of large ransom.
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Southeast Asia
Abu Sayyaf kidnapper, financier arrested in Manila
2017-11-30
[World Bulletin] A man accused of funding the Abu Sayyaf who was allegedly involved in the kidnapping of 21 tourists in Malaysia was arrested by Philippine authorities last week in Quezon City, Manila. At a press briefing on Tuesday, police spokesman Wilson Asueta said Abulpatta Escalon Abubakar, also known as "Kitong" or "Imran", was arrested last Thursday.

Abubakar was alleged to be involved in the kidnapping of ten tourists from Europe and the Middle East and 11 Malaysian resort workers at the Pulau Sipadan resort in Sabah, Malaysia on April 23, 2000, Asueta said. He also insinuated that Abubakar had been financing the terrorist group while he was in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia since 1997 until this year, through Abu Sayyaf leaders Radullan Sahiron and Isnilon Hapilon.

Abubakar was previously arrested in September when he returned to the country from Saudi Arabia but was immediately released because his identity was not clearly substantiated.
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Southeast Asia
Philippine troops nab Abu Sayyaf rebel
2017-09-11
[Inquirer] Philippine troops arrested a member of the Abu Sayyaf under top leader Radullan Sahiron in Sulu, the military disclosed Friday. Milham Saham was intercepted by soldiers in Patikul town on Thursday evening.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP) Western Mindanao Command (Wesmincom) described Saham as a notorious member of the terrorist group.

Military spokesman Cirilito Sobejana said, “Troops conducted a checkpoint following reports on the alleged movement of the Abu Sayyaf in the area, resulting in the arrest of Abu Sayyaf member Saham."

“Saham was positively identified by informants as an Abu Sayyaf member under Sahiron. He was previously associated with the groups of late sub-leaders Hairulla Asbang and Alhabsy Misaya,” Western Mindanao Command said.

He is also linked to the group of sub-leader Alden Bagadi, known as Sayning, who is his cousin. Saham is a Abu Sayyaf militant known to residents of Barangays Buganginan and Kaunayan in Patikul.
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Southeast Asia
ASG bomb expert arrested; 6 Abus bolt Sulu jail
2017-07-26
[NEWS.MB.PH] A notorious gunner and bomb expert of the Sulu-based Abu Sayyaf
...also known as al-Harakat al-Islamiyya, an Islamist terror group based in Jolo, Basilan and Zamboanga. Since its inception in the early 1990s, the group has carried out bombings, kidnappings, murders, head choppings, and extortion in their uniquely Islamic attempt to set up an independent Moslem province in the Philippines. Abu Sayyaf forces probably number less than 300 cadres. The group is closely allied with remnants of Indonesia's Jemaah Islamiya and has loose ties with MILF and MNLF who sometimes provide cannon fodder...
 Group (ASG) under top leader Radullan Sahiron and another ASG member were tossed in the calaboose
Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw!
 as a result of the intensified operations of the military and police against the terrorist group.

Composite elements of the Joint Task Force Tawi-Tawi and the Provincial Police Office of Tawi-Tawi neutralized Abu Sayyaf and kidnap-for-ransom member Ibno Moro in Barangay Kamagong, Bongao, Tawi-Tawi at around 10:30 a.m. Saturday.

Moro, who has a standing warrant of arrest for murder, was a member of the late sub-leader Jul Asman Sawadjaan who operated in Tawi-Tawi and Sulu.

Ranked as the Number 8 Most Wanted in the province of Tawi-Tawi, Moro was involved in the 1989 massacre in Barangay Lapid-Lapid, Bongao; 2002 kidnapping of Alvin Chua at the Chinese Pier in Bongao; 2004 kidnapping of Sibuto Mayor Kuyoh Pajiji of Sibutu; and 2004 murder of Rodrigo Alejandro Sr. and his son, Rodrigo Alejandro, Jr., in Barangay Buan, Panglima Sugala.

"This is another operational feat attributable to the efforts of our troops on the ground and the police," Lieutenant General Carlito G. Galvez, Jr., the Commander of the Western Mindanao Command, said.

"Given the key involvement of Moro in various kidnappings perpetrated by the Tawi-Tawi based Abu Sayyaf members, the neutralization of the notorious bandit is deemed a big blow on the Abu Sayyaf and kidnap for ransom group, which has faced substantial loss as a result of our intensified operations," he added.

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Southeast Asia
Two top Abus 'neutralized' in Mindanao
2017-07-16
[Rappler] In a span of 3 days, government forces in Mindanao “neutralized” two Abu Sayyaf militants.

Joint Task Force Tawi-Tawi and provincial police gunned down Ibno Moro, an Abu Sayyaf rebel and kidnapper, on Saturday morning. According to the Western Mindanao Command, Moro is a former member of the late Abu Sayyaf sub-leader Jul Asman Sawadjaan. He had a standing arrest warrant for murder.

Moro was on the Tawi-Tawi most-wanted police list. He was wanted for a 1989 massacre in Bongao, the 2004 kidnapping of Sibuto Mayor Kuyoh Pajiji, the kidnapping of Alvin Chua in 2002, and the 2004 murder of Rodrigo Alejandro Sr and his son in Panglima Sugala.

Days earlier, Joint Task Force Zamboanga and Zamboanga City police arrested Abu Sayyaf militant Abdulmubin Kudalat Salamuddin, alias “Mubin”, during an operation in Barangay Guiwan, Zamboanga City the evening of July 13. Salamuddin was suspected in the 2002 Sidapan kidnapping and was a follower of Abu Sayyaf leader Radullan Sahiron. He was also supposedly trained by Jema'ah Islamiyah member Amin Bacho to create improvised explosive devices and landmines.

According to Joint Task Force Zamboanga commander Colonel Leonel Nicolas, Salamuddin was working as a security guard in a mall in the city at the time of his arrest.
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Southeast Asia
Senior Abu Sayyaf leader wants to surrender
2017-04-15
[PNA] A senior Philippine military official disclosed that Abu Sayyaf one-armed and top leader Radullan Sahiron plans to surrender to the government. Westmincom spokesman Carlito Galvez said, "Radullan Sahiron is contemplating to surrender because he is old."

Galvez said that one of the conditions of Sahiron is for the government "not to turn him over to the U.S. government" when he turns himself in. The FBI has set a million reward for the capture of Sahiron.

Sahiron is the leading figure in the Abu Sayyaf Group in Sulu province after most of the founding Abu Sayyaf leaders were killed.
Galvez said, "We see that not only those in the lower ranks of the ASG are expressing their desire to surrender because they’re​already feeling ​the heat of the military operation. And they also feel the sincerity of the President to accept people who wanted to surrender."

Galvez said they were employing non-lethal approaches in dealing with the Abu Sayyaf, including a rehabilitation program. He said they are replicating this approach from their military counterparts in Indonesia and Malaysia. Galvez said the same tactic was used in "decimating" the networks of the Jemaah Islamiyah.

On Thursday, Galvez presented to the local media the 11 Abu Sayyaf rebels, including two sub-leaders, who surrendered to the government in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi. Ben Saudi Sariol, one of the 11 surrenderers, said they decided to turn themselves in to the military as the offensive against the Abu Sayyaf have intensified in recent months.

"We just want a peaceful life. We want our children to go to school, and earn a decent living. We feel much safer​ now," Sariol said in Tausug dialect. Ben, along with his father Berong Sariol and nine other relatives, surrendered to the troops on Tuesday night. They also surrendered their firearms to the military.
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Southeast Asia
Ten Abu Sayyaf gunmen killed in Sulu clash
2017-03-04
[GMA News] Ten Abu Sayyaf gunmen were killed, while 18 soldiers were injured during a Friday morning clash in Sulu.

Joint Task Force Sulu commander Cirilito Sobejana said his soldiers were mounting a rescue operation for Abu Sayyaf hostages when they clashed with about 120 Abu Sayyaf gunmen in Patikul town. The gunmen were led by Radullan Sahiron and his sub-leaders Hatib Hajan Sawadjaan and Almuher Yadah. The gun battle lasted about two hours, until the gunmen withdrew.

Sobejana said that among those killed were two of Sahiron's close relatives. A military source said that among the relative's killed was the militant leader's grandson. "He is a minor, a child warrior," the source said.

On Wednesday, military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla said a total of 43 Abu Sayyaf rebels have been killed in ecounters with government troops from November 1, 2016 to March 1.
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