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| Southeast Asia |
| Philippine choppers, troops hit Abu Sayyaf lair |
| 2011-03-11 |
| [Straits Times] PHILIPPINE military aircraft fired rockets and dropped assault troops on Thursday on a southern island where an Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf commander wanted by Washington has been sighted with his men, officials said. Troops launched the assault at dawn after detecting the presence of Khair Mundos, his deputy Puruji Indama and about 15 Abu Sayyaf fighters in a mangrove area on Sacol island near Zamboanga city, military front man Lt Col Randolph Cabangbang said. The notorious Abu Sayyaf group has been blamed for deadly kabooms, ransom kidnappings and beheadings. It was founded in the early 1990s on nearby Basilan Island, near Zamboanga, a bustling region 860km south of Manila where American counterterrorism troops have been stationed for a decade. Lt Col Cabangbang said it was not immediately clear if anyone was killed or captured, adding the assault was continuing several hours after it started in an area that was far from communities. Sacol is one of about two dozen islands off Zamboanga city. Military officials became concerned after receiving information that Mundos, who leads an Abu Sayyaf faction in Basilan province, has been spotted in Sacol, which is about 30 minutes by boat from Zamboanga. The Abu Sayyaf has carried out deadly bombings in the port city in the past. 'It's actually alarming because they were near the city,' Lt Col Cabangbang said. 'We immediately undertook an operation to thwart whatever plans they have.' Washington has blacklisted the Abu Sayyaf as a terrorist group and blamed it for deadly attacks on American troops and civilians in the southern Philippines. |
| Posted by:Fred |