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Home/ stevenwarran's Library/ Notes/ May 28, 2009, The Philippine Star, 3 Sayyaf, MILF commanders, 7 others slain in Basilan raid, by Jaime Laude and Roel Pareño,

May 28, 2009, The Philippine Star, 3 Sayyaf, MILF commanders, 7 others slain in Basilan raid, by Jaime Laude and Roel Pareño,

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May 28, 2009, The Philippine Star, 3 Sayyaf, MILF commanders, 7 others slain in Basilan raid, by Jaime Laude and Roel Pareño,


MANILA, Philippines – Ten suspected Abu Sayyaf bandits and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels, including three of their commanders, were killed in a military assault on their lair in Basilan yesterday morning.

Maj. Gen. Arturo Ortiz, commanding general of the Army’s Special Operations Command, said more casualties were expected, as Marines and Special Forces were still conducting pursuit and clearing operations.

Among those slain were Abu Sayyaf commander Pula and MILF Special Operations Group (SOG) commanders Usman Lidjal and Ben Monkay, alias Negro.

Operatives of the Military Intelligence Group-9 (MIG-9) based in Western Mindanao confirmed the killing of the three commanders, whose groups were believed to be behind the spate of kidnappings in Basilan and mainland Zamboanga.

A Marine junior officer, a certain Lt. Alanano, was wounded in the firefight but died while being airlifted to the Camp Navarro hospital of the military’s Western Mindanao Command in Zamboanga City.

Fighting broke out when Marines and the Special Forces swooped down on the lair of Pula and Monkay in the outskirts of Tuburan town at about 7 a.m., Ortiz said.

The fighting lasted for almost an hour in what is believed to be the headquarters of the MILF’s 114th Base Command.

During the clearing operations, troops captured four other bandits and recovered an M-14 rifle, three M-16 rifles, an M203 grenade launcher, three B40 anti-rank rounds, and assorted ammunition.

Marine Capt. Neil Estrella, spokesman of the anti-kidnapping and anti-terror Task Force Trillium, said elements of the 1st Marine Brigade were still pursuing the fleeing Abu Sayyaf and MILF rebels at the boundary of Sumisip and Mohammad Adjul towns.

The Armed Forces’ leadership ordered the strike last Tuesday afternoon shortly after Zamboanga City public school teachers Quizon Freires, Janet de los Reyes and Rafael Mayonado were freed. The three were snatched off Sacol Island in Zamboanga City last Jan. 23 and brought to Basilan.

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