TWO members of the bandit group Abu Sayyaf were killed in a clash with combined military and police forces in Tandubas town in Tawi-Tawi on Sunday morning, the military reported on Monday.
Maj. Arvin Encinas, spokesman of the Zamboanga City-based Western Mindanao Command, identified the fatalities as Jul Haber, alias Black Shabu and Toks; and Kamsel Ampang.
Encinas said troops from the Marine Battalion Landing Team 6 and local PNP encountered a group of Abu Sayyaf rebels in Barangay Taruk at around 4 a.m.
After a 10-minute firefight, the troops recovered at the scene the bodies of the slain Abu Sayyaf members, an M16 rifle with scope, 123 rounds of ammunition, nine magazines, a rifle grenade, a plastic sachet containing suspected shabu, and drug paraphernalia.
Col. Arturo Rojas, commander of the Joint Task Force Tawi-Tawi, said the group is involved not only kidnap-for-ransom activities but also in the illegal drug trade.
Rojas said Haber is connected with an alleged drug peddler, Odin Masihul, alias Baby, Bedi and Ombak, who was killed in a buy-bust operation in Sitio Pahapatan in Barangay Baldatal Islam in Sapa-Sapa town, also in Tawi-Tawi on November 20 last year.
The remains of Haber and Ampang were turned over to the Tandubas Municipal Police station.
Wesmincom chief Lt. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana urged the public to continue cooperating with authorities to finally end the Abu Sayyaf.
“Let us continue to collaborate, fight terrorism and criminality, and work for peace in the communities,” Sobejana said.
