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| Southeast Asia |
| 10-year-old among surrendering Abu Sayyaf militants |
| 2016-10-25 |
| [Inquirer] 32 Abu Sayyaf militants surrendered to Philippine troops on Monday. They included a 10-year-old boy, identified only as Tony, who said he could operate an M4 Carbine assault rifle. Tony surrendered with his older brother Halid and nine others. Their group of 11 was led by Moton Indama, a cousin of Abu Sayyaf leader Furuji Indama. Moton had about 30 followers but only 11 surrendered because "they were afraid to join me. They were afraid that after surrendering, we will all be killed," he said. Tony, whose parents were killed in a military operation, said another older brother opted not to surrender. 21 militants from another Abu Sayyaf faction, the Baiwas group, also gave themselves up. One of them, Weller Baliyung, said, "We want to live like civilians where we can roam freely in our town together with our families." Baliyung said food supplies and other support for the war had been dwindling due to the nonstop military operations. He said, "We have lost so many comrades. We still want to live and see our families." |
| Posted by:ryuge |