February 21, 2010, RFI, Abu Sayyaf leader killed in fighting, says military

from web site

Philippine marine corps trainingPhoto: 51st Marine Reserve Batallion

By RFI

A top leader of Abu Sayyaf, an armed Islamist group in the Philippines linked to Al Qaeda, may have been among six people killed in fighting on the southern island of Jolo Sunday, according to the military. The chief of the regional anti-terror task force, Brigadier General Rustico Guerrero said the target of the operation, Alader Parad, may have been killed. Parad was behind the abduction of three Red Cross workers last year.

Parad and his entourage “were the targets of this operation,” Guerrero told local radio. “We are running after the leaders of this notorious Abu Sayyaf group."

Four civilians have independently identified Parad’s body, according to the head of the military’s Western Mindanao Command, Lieutenant General Benjamin Dolorfino.

He said that Abdulhaman Jumdail, the younger brother of Umbra Jumdail, one of the main leaders of the group, was also killed.

"This is a very big accomplishment for us, it means we surprised the enemy," said Dolorfino.

He said the marines launched a raid on an Abu Sayyaf training camp outside of Maimbung township Sunday after intelligence reports that Parad and Umbra Jumdail were there.

One marine was killed and three others were wounded in the fighting, navy spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Edgard Arevalo, said in a statement.

The military launched massive operations against the group on Jolo after three workers with the International Committee for the Red Cross mission were kidnapped from the Island in January 2009. They have since been released.

Parad had threatened to behead the workers unless his demands were met. At the height of the crisis, the military reported he had been killed in a battle, but he appeared in a national radio interview a few days later.

Abu Sayyaf has been blamed for the worst attacks in the country, including the bombing of a passenger ferry on Manila Bay in 2004 that killed over 100 people. The group is believed to have received funds from al-Qaida and is on the US government's list of terrorist organisations.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2010

Marines Clash vs. ASG, 6 Terrorists Dead

By: Lieutenant Colonel Edgard A Arevalo PN(M)
Director, Naval Public Affairs Office

21 February 2010

Marines under the Operational Control of Joint Task Force Comet, aided by Naval Barrier from Patrol Gunboats of the Philippine Fleet and Close Air Support from assault aircrafts of the Philippine Air Force clashed with the terrorist Abu Sayyaf Group 7AM of 21 February 2010. BGen Rustico Guerrero Commander of JTF COMET reports to MGEN Juancho Sabban, Commandant of Philippine Marine Corps, that elite composite group of Marines from 2nd and 3rd Marine Brigades based in Sulu clashed with the bandit group led by Albader Parad and Dr. Abu at the vicinity of Sitio Kandang Tukay, Karawan in Maimbung, Sulu. Fierce firefight ensued for about an hour. As a result of the decisive surgical combat operations, bodies of 6 dead terrorists were recovered. Four firearms were also recovered-- a Belgian FN rifle, 2 M203 grenade launcher, and a Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW). Three Marines wounded and now at the trauma hospital in Camp Bautista.

This is a severe blow vs. ASG leadership but a major victory for the peace-loving people of Sulu who had been cooperating with our Marines by providing vital information about the bandit group.

This has been the third in a series of deliberate attacks by the Fleet-Marine Team backed by Air Force assault aircrafts. These law enforcement action by the Marines came in the heels of the atrocities the bandit ASG continue to perpetrate.

The Navy leadership will continue to spearhead operations to hunt down the remnants of the terrorist group following the case build-up that led to the arrest of Jumdail Arad in Pier 2 in North Harbor, Manila 5:15 PM Thu 18 February 2010.

Three Philippine soldiers killed, Red Cross workers still hostage

Article published on the 2009-03-17 Latest update 2009-03-18 09:40 TU

The Philippine army in action
(Photo: Reuters)

Three soldiers have been killed and 19 wounded in a two-day battle with Abu Sayyaf rebels on the southern Philippine island of Jolo. The army, which says that six Abu Sayyaf members also died, is trying to free three Red Cross workers that the Islamic armed group has been holding since 15 January

Fighting broke out when Abu Sayyaf fighters tried to break through an army cordon around dense jungle where they are holed up with the hostages.

The army claims to have killed six rebels and wounded others, including the group's commander Albader Parad.

The fate of the hostages - Filipina Mary Jean Lacaba, Italian Eugenio Vagni and Swiss national Andreas Notter - is unknown. The military says that it found tents and equipment belonging to them in a camp it took over on Monday.

"We know they are intact in one group ... the Abu Sayyaf and the hostages," military spokesperson Brigadier General Gaudencio Pangilinan told reporters. "They have moved I think two or three kilometres from the original encounter site."

"Officials are saying that the rebels are getting frustrated and that they wanted to break out of the area because the military has been restricting them in that one place," reports Girlie Minao from Manila.

Although the movement says that it is fighting for a Muslim homeland in the south, like the larger Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Moro National Liberation Front, it is officially regarded as "more of a bandit group".

"The military say there could be between 200 and 400 in the Abu Sayyaf, depending on their activities," Linao told RFI. "The number increases when they have, for example, hostages, as right now. Since Jaanuary more people have become Abu Sayyaf rebels again to become guards … in helping keep the hostages."

Q+A: Correspondent Girlie Linao in Manila

17/03/2009 by Salil Sarkar

The International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (ICRC) said in a statement that it is concerned about the hostages' safety.

Alain Aeschlimann, the ICRC's head of operations in Asia, says that he last spoke to the hostages by telephone on 11 March.

"The ICRC is aware that an exchange of gunfire took place in the region on Monday, 16 March," Aeschlimann said. "We're very concerned to hear about this development."

Abu Sayyaf, which broke away from larger guerrilla groups fighting for a Muslim homeland in the south of the Philippines, has made no formal demand for the hostages' release. But local officials who have tried to gain their freedom have quoted the figure of one million dollars (772,000 euros).

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