Government troops captured three suspected Abu Sayyaf members in Parang, Sulu last Wednesday. Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro, Armed Forces of the Philippines Public Information Office (AFP-PIO) chief, said the three were not immediately identified. They were cornered by combined elements of the Air Force and the Light Reaction Co. (LRC) at their safehouse in Poblacion Parang at about 11 a.m. the other day. "The raid only lasted for about five minutes with negative resistance," Bacarro said.Aside from the arrest of the terrorists, the military raiding team recovered a caliber .30 Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) with five magazines and bullets and a Springfield Garand rifle from the suspectsÂ’ safehouse.
The involvement of the elite LRC that were trained by US military advisers was reportedly part of the operations to capture Indonesian terrorists Dulmatin and Umar Patek, both members of the international terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah. Bacarro refused to confirm or deny that targets of the latest operations were Dulmatin and Patek who are suspects in the bombings in Bali, Indonesia, where 202 people were killed on Oct. 12, 2002. The US government has offered a reward of $10 million for the capture of Dulmatin and $1 million for Patek.
Dulmatin and Patek slipped into Mindanao in 2005 and established links with the Abu Sayyaf to escape the crackdown launched by Indonesian security forces against the suspects. The military said more than two dozen other Indonesian militants working with JI are hiding in Mindanao.