03 de septiembre de 2016, 00:06Manila, Sep 3 (prensa Latina) The Philippines government today asserted that almost 5,000 people have abandoned their homes in the southern province of Sululu, because of the advance of terrorist groups such as Abu Sayyaf.
Advertisement
Sulu Governor Toto Tan said the young members of the ASG are not minors but in their 20s, are natives of Jolo, and have opted to join the bandit group because they are running from the law.
Padilla disclosed additional troops were also being dispatched to beef up the 2,500 soldiers deployed on Sulu’s neighbouring island province of Basilan where the Abu Sayyaf continue to operate with impunity.
The Abu Sayyaf were reportedly led by Jamiri Jaong Jawhari and Basaron Arok, two known subleaders of the bandit group.
The spokesman said that sporadic fighting is ongoing in Sulu with no government casualties reported, while an undetermined number of Abu Sayyaf have been killed.
The United States has placed a bounty of $1 million on Sahiron’s head for his involvement in the murder of foreign nationals.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte issued a grim warning to the terrorist Abu Sayyaf Group. I will really open up your body.
But Duterte was unfazed by the threat, saying that government forces were capable of destroying the Abu Sayyaf that gained notoriety through a spate of kidnap-for-ransom cases involving foreigners and Filipinos that were often marred by the beheading of their hostages. “And for us in Tawi-Tawi we would like to let them [the ASG] know that when they will attempt to go to Tawi-Tawi, they’re gonna die”. When the time comes, I will pulverize you. “I will devour you”.
Advertisement
Since 1991, the Abu Sayyaf – armed with mostly improvised explosive devices, mortars and automatic rifles – has carried out bombings, kidnappings, assassinations and extortion in a self-determined fight for an independent province in the Philippines.
