Three persons, including a soldier and a militant, were killed while a junior officer was wounded in separate attacks last week in the island province of Sulu where military offensive continues against the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf that is sheltering three Jemaah Islamiyah terrorists. The Western Mindanao Command (Wesmincom) reported that the slain soldier and the junior officer were ambushed last Saturday by members of the Abu Sayyaf's urban terrorist group (UTG) in Barangay Kakuyagan, Jolo town.The UTG is the Abu Sayyaf's assassination squad targeting government operatives in urban centers in the different parts of Mindanao. The report disclosed that the soldiers were returning to their base from downtown Jolo when UTG members ambushed them. The Wesmincom reported that the soldiers managed to return fire, killing one of the attackers. The others fled to different directions.
The identities of both the slain and wounded soldiers were withheld. The officer holds the rank of captain and all of them belong to the Army's 35th Infantry Battalion. The soldier, who holds the rank of corporal, died last Sunday at the hospital.
The third fatality was a court employee in Jolo, the capital of Sulu province. The victim came from his office when unidentified gunman shot him last Friday. He was declared dead on arrival by attending physicians in the hospital.
Military troops have been pursuing the Abu Sayyaf, which has been sheltering three JI men, for the past three months in the hinterlands of Sulu. Two of the three JI members namely Umar Patek and Dulmatin were tagged as the masterminds in the 2002 bombing of a resort in Bali, Indonesia that killed 202 people. The third is said to be a Singaporean national. They slipped into the country via the southern backdoor to escape the pursuing lawmen in Indonesia.