AFP: MILF-Abu teamed up in Basilan
By BONG GARCIA JR.
TODAY Correspondent
Col. Bonifacio Ramos, chief of the Army’s 103rd Infantry Brigade,
said the armed men attacked the detachment of the 18th Infantry Battalion in
barangay Colonia in Lamitan around
He said the attackers were led by MILF commander Usman Lidjal and
Suod Jalon, an Abu Sayyaf team leader.
The attack has bolstered reports that the Abu Sayyaf and the MILF
have merged forces in Basilan, a province considered one of the hotbeds of the
bandits responsible for the series of kidnappings in the province.
MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu had claimed that they maintain a
brigade in Basilan and most of its forces are concentrated in the hinterlands
of Tuburan.
Ramos said the armed group consists of 40 men who split into
smaller groups and fled to different directions when government reinforcements
arrived at the encounter site.
He said the military had monitored through radio conversations
among the suspects that several attackers were injured.
The Basilan police director, Senior Supt. Bensali Jabarani, said
police units have set up checkpoints in strategic areas to prevent more
violence.
“We have enough personnel to maintain law and order in Basilan.
We have also anticipated any terror plans,” he said.
On Friday soldiers from the 18th Infantry Battalion uncovered an
ammunition dam of the Abu Sayyaf while on combat patrol in barangay
Sinangkapan, Tuburan.
The soldiers recovered 110 sticks of dynamite and 13 rounds of 60-mm
mortar shells. The discovery of the ammunition was made possible through the
help of an informant, Ramos said.