Troops clash with group behind Jolo bombings: Blasts mastermind escapes

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GOVERNMENT forces on Saturday clashed with the group of an Abu Sayyaf sub-leader, tagged as mastermind of the August 24 twin suicide bombings in Jolo, Sulu, which left 17 people dead and 74 others injured.

Two Abu Sayyaf members were killed but Mundi Sawadjaan managed to evade the pursuing troops during the firefight at around 9:45 a.m. Saturday in Sitio Baunoh Butong in Barangay Kabbon Takas, Patikul town.

Yesterday, six of Sawadjaan’s men surrendered to the military.

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Maj. Gen. Corleto Vinluan, chief of the military’s Western Mindanao Command (Wesmincom) based in Zamboanga City, expressed confidence Sawadjaan is still in Patikul town.

“He won’t be able to leave the area because we have a lot of troops there,” he said.

Vinluan said there is no information if Sawadjaan was hit during the clash.

Troops recovered at the scene a body of an Abu Sayyaf member. Intelligence information said another member died.

An Army soldier was also killed while seven others were injured in the clash.

Brig. Gen. William Gonzales, chief Joint Task Force Sulu, said his men continue to track down Sawadjaan’s group.

“We will employ all military assets to destroy the fleeing Abu Sayyaf members who are perpetrators of the Jolo bombing,” he said.

On Sawadjaan’s men, the task said the six “disgruntled” Abu Sayyaf members surrendered to the Army’s 2nd Special Battalion and 41st Infantry Battalion in Jolo and turned over five high high-powered firearms during their surrender.

Photos show the aftermath of the twin bombings at Barangay Walled City in Jolo, Sulu that claimed several lives including government troops and civilians and wounding dozens last August 24, 2020. All photos by KARL NORMAN ALONZO/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

Before the firefight on Saturday, troops from the Army’s 3rd and 5th Scout Ranger battalions were conducting “intensified operations” against the perpetrators of the suicide bombings when they encountered the 30-man group of Sawadjaan and Abu Sayyaf leader Radullan Sahiron.

Authorities said Sawadjaan “motivated” the two female suicide bombers to conduct the suicide bombings. They were the wives of two Abu Sayyaf members — one of them died in a suicide bombing in June last year while the other died in a clash with troops in Patikul, Sulu in November last year.

VISIT

President Duterte yesterday announced he would visit soldiers detailed in Sulu, including those who were injured and the families of those perished during the explosions.

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte leads the candle-lighting and the offering of flowers at the blast site at Barangay Walled City in Jolo, Sulu on August 30, 2020. ACE MORANDANTE/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

He made the announcement during the “Singing for the President” virtual concert.

“I’m going to Jolo, diretso ako ngayon sa Jolo, doon sa blast site. Mabigyan ko lang ang mga sandalo natin, mga sundalo ko, mga pulis ko ng importansya sa kanilang kamatayan. I’ll go there to fulfill the duty of a commander in chief (I’m going to Jolo, I will go straight to Jolo, to the blast site. I will bestow recognition to my soldiers, to my police, and give importance to their deaths. I’ll go there to fulfill the duty of a commander in chief),” Duterte said.

The concert was organized by the “Volunteer Artists for Duterte” led by singer Jimmy Bondoc.

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Among those who performed for the President were Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo, former Quezon City councillor Anthony Castello, and former tourism promotions board chief Cesar Montano.

MARTIAL LAW

Army chief Lt. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana has withdrawn his recommendation to place Sulu under martial law in the aftermath of the bombings.

Sobejana took back his recommendation after Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and Armed Forces chief Gen. Gilbert Gapay said there was no need for it.

Lorenzana and Gapay said the prevailing Presidential Proclamation 55 that imposed a Mindanao-wide state of lawlessness in 2016 and the new Anti-Terrorism Act are enough to main order in the province.

“I drop my recommendation for ML (martial law) declaration over Sulu despite the turmoil as there might be other better options,” said Sobejana.

Nevertheless, he shared his experience while the commander of the Joint Task Force Sulu in 2017 during a Mindanao-wide martial law.

President Duterte declared the martial law in Mindanao after the Maute Group attacked several areas in Marawi City in May 2017. It ended in December 2019, more than two years after the five-month conflict ended.

Sobejana said “substantial gains” were achieved during the martial law that year, reducing the number of Abu Sayyaf kidnap victims to three from 53, and neutralizing a number of key Abu Sayyaf leaders.

“There were more than a hundred of ASG members who had surrendered. More than a thousand loose, undocumented firearms were handed over. There was no single bomb attacked perpetrated by the ASGs,” said Sobejana. — With Jocelyn Montemayor

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