19 soldiers die in clash with Abu Sayyaf, MILF fighters

FIERCE fighting erupted between Army troops and heavily-armed members of the Abu Sayyaf Group and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in Albarka, Basilan Tuesday leaving at least 11 soldiers and seven of the gunmen dead, officials said.

The slain soldiers were from the Army’s 13 Special Forces Company while the seven dead gunmen were identified as  Ustadz Munip Habibun, Manap Limaya, Hj. Rick, Kaharut Abdusal, one Baddi, a certain Sibin and one alias Marijul.

As of yesterday, Air Force helicopter gunships and attack planes were still supporting ground troops in pursuing the gunmen. Police have conducted road blockades in the area to intercept any of the fleeing guerrillas.

A Philippine National Police report said the soldiers encountered the gunmen led by Commander Dan Asnawi alias Dan Laksaw and Ustadz Munip Habibun in Sitio Bakisung, Barangay Cambug in Albarka town 6 a.m. Tuesday. The PNP report said three soldiers were wounded in the clash.

There were conflicting reports on the number of casualties on the side of the military. Lieutenant Colonel Randolph Cabangbang, spokesman of the Armed Forces’ Western Mindanao Command said 12 soldiers died as a a result of the firefight that lasted nearly six hours.

Cabangbang said 11 others were wounded and 10 were listed as missing.

The military said the MILF guerrillas were led by Asnawi, the head of the MILF’s 14th Base Command while the Abu Sayaf extremists were under Nurhusan Jamiri and Long Malat.

The MILF accused the military of violating a ceasefire by encroaching into their territory and attacking their members.

However, Cabangbang claimed the soldiers were merely checking an information regarding the presence of an “armed group possibly holding some kidnapping victims” in the area when they encountered the gunmen.

Both Jamiri and Asnawi are long wanted by the government. Asnawi was captured by security forces for his role in the killing of 14 Marines in Albarka in 2007. Ten of the soldiers were beheaded during the incident.

However, Asnawi, who was arrested while about to board a Manila-bound plane at the Zamboanga airport, bolted the Basilan provincial jail in 2009. Jamiri is wanted for a series of kidnapping-for-ransom incidents in Mindanao.

Officials said Jamiri was also involved in the kidnapping of naturalized American citizens Gerfa Yeatts Lunsmann and her 14-year- old son.