Seeing as how I have spent the last 2 entries discussing the island province of Basilan I thought I might make a relatively painless segue directly into an update about actions undertaken by the ASG (Abu Sayyaf Group) as I begin discussing the insurgency on that small island.
On Feburary 2nd, 2010, Tuesday at 12PM in Barangay Guiong in the town of Maluso in Basilan Province, an AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) 6 x 6 truck with armoured refitting was flipped onto its back by an IED (Improvised Explosive Device, i.e. "Bomb"), one of two that day on that same Sumisip-Maluso Road (I wrote about the second IED in my previous entry on the Election Related Violence on Basilan). Corporal Bryan Ansing of the 32IB (Infantry Battalion) was killed instantly while eight of his mates were severely wounded.
With two IEDs by Abu Sayyaf, one hitting the army, the second hitting a politician, it is difficult to say which 1 was the target. IEDs in the Philippines are almost always command detonated (someone must physically detonate it, no timer is used) as indeed these two were...which leads one to wonder just whom the ASG (Abu Sayyaf Group) was aiming for. Conceivably it could have been both but the organisation hasn't attempted any finely co-ordinated attacks since the younger Janjalani brother was killed on Jolo Island. It is more likely than not that the target was the military and that the political killing was simply a stroke of luck (good luck for ASG but terrible luck of course for the victims).
Feburary 26th, 2010, at 820PM in Barangay Biembengan, in the municipality of Sumisip in Basilan Province,the two Chinese nationals kidnapped from the island's Chinese owned Hi-Tech Wood Craft Plywood mill in the town of Maluso on Novemeber 10th, 2009 were finally freed. They had been taken with Filipino worker Mark Singson who was decapitated not long after because of his family's refusal to negotiate a ransom. 51 year old Zhi Shun Lu, known as "Oscar Lu," and 27 year old Bo Shung Tan, known as "Michael Tan," were found after a firefight between the Marines and ASG's Puruji Indama Faction, the strongest ASG faction on Basilan.
The men, both natives of Guanghzou, China, were then taken to the AFP's Camp Navarro in Zamboanga City for de-briefing and the requisite hospitalisation. Unfortunately, the older man, "Oscar Lu," who has had advanced kidney disease for a number of years, and who of course was without medications and dialysis for the length of his ordeal, passed away due to organ failure three days after being found. Talk about "mixed blessings."
On Saturday, Feburary 27th, 2010,at 545AM in the town of Maluso's Barangay Tubigan seventy ASG guerillas launched a village wide raid and burned five homes down by throwing kerosene lamps onto the thatched huts roofs. Most villagers were still sleeping at what for them was a relatively late hour due to an Islamic holiday the evening before and a party at the village mosque. As villagers were running for safety ASG began picking them off. Eleven died on scene. The raid stemmed from a personal disagreement between the Barangay Chairman/Captain (village chief) and an ASG factional leader,Puruji Indama. One of the dead was an off duty CVO soldier (Civilian Volunteer Organization, one of four entities that together form the CAA, or Civilian Active Auxiliary,the cornerstone of the AFP's counterinsurgency Force Multiplication protocol. CVO though, unlike all others, is under the PNP, Philippine National Police, and not the AFP). Among the initial eleven killed was young mother Karen Bucoy, her 9 year old son Arjie, and infant Abigail who were all burned alive in their home.
Other eight casulaties:
1) Benjie Laping
2) Timhaar Arakani
3) Uding Pagdalian
4) John Laping
5) Salima Salapuddin
6) Lorna Sahidda Salisa
7) Tawasil Idjiran
the eleventh initial victim, the CVO soldier, has not been immediately identified as per SOP (Standard Operating Procedure). In addition, ten other villagers were wounded, with two of them dying over the next 48 hours. One of the latter was 9 year old Jabrian Laping who died from organ failure related to his severe burns. The last and thirteenth fatality has not had their identity released.
Thursday, March 18th, 2010 was a lucky day for Examinda Lindio of Isabela City on Basilan, perhaps her luckiest ever when the AFP was able to pressure her Abu Sayyaf kidnappers into withdrawing without her. At 11AM, in Barangay San Jose Maloong, in Lamitan City in Basilan Province, MBLT-1 (Marine Battalion Landing Team #1 (a Landing Team being the equivalent of a company in strength but battalion in deployment) affected the capture Abu Sayyaf member Arvin Guirny of that same barangay.
After interrogating him they were able to glean the location of Ms.Lindio and by 115PM were in position. As the cordon tightened lookouts alerted the kidnappers who quickly fled the abandoned three story building without taking the necessary time to free and take their captive who was held in a tiny crawlspace underneath the 1st floor of the building.
Ms.Lindio had been kidnapped on Saturday, March 13th so she is doubly lucky having only spent roughly five days in captivity and having been freed unscathed which is incredibly rare here.
On April 13th, 2010 at 1030 AM in Isabela City's Barangay Eastside in Basilan Provincr Abu Sayyaf attempted to duplicate the 1995 Attack on Ipil, a majority Christian city on Mindanao's Zamboanga Peninsula, an isthmus that sits directly north of Isabela City. Ipil, an attack that killed fifty-six civlians was an operation that put Abu Sayyaf on the map.It was extremely well planned and audacious in nature but more importantly the group was able to pull it off in textbook fashion. Unfortunately for Abu Sayyaf, those days are long gone. 15 years later Abu Sayyaf, devoid of the Janjalani brothers and all other founding members dead and gone, the April 13th operation in Isabela City should prove this better than anything else.
At 1030 AM a truck bomb fashioned out of a Hyundai minivan parked behind Basilan National High School's grandstand detonated in a spectacular fireball. PNP (Philippine National Police) officer SPO4 Enrico "Ricky" Morales who commanded the Basilan PNP PPO (Provincial Police Office) joined 2 Marines stsnding nearby and ran to the source of the explosion. As the 3 men rounded the corner on the opposite end of the grandstand Abu Sayyaf snipers in captured PNP uniforms drew a bead on them. Both Marines died instantly while SPO4 Morales was seriously wounded. Sadly, Professor Bong de la Luna who taught at Basilan State College was caught in a crossfire between SPO4 Morales and the snipers and was also killed in the melee. Two Abu Sayyaf snipers were taken down,dying on scene,1 of which was in plain clothes.
At this point the remaining ASG snipers and their blocking force (shooters who protect escape routes and rear echelons) began to rapidly withdraw, pursued by SPO4 Morales' underlings aided by well armed civlians so that the barangay devolved into a chaotic scene of running firefights.
2 more Abu Sayyaf were wounded,both in PNP SAF (Special Action Forces,the PNP Special Forces) fatigues. They were taken to nearby Infante Hospital before being quickly airlifted across the water to Camp Navarro Hospital in Zamboanga City (1 dying days later,on April 21,from sepsis,with his only known ID being his nom de guerre, "Umbar" (He was buried on the coast of Zamboanga at Caragasan by the local Imam). The surviving Abu Sayyaf guerilla,Ajid Jalil,alternatively known as "Ajid Jainul" was arrested on June 29th after being released from WESMINCOM (West Mindanao Command) Hospital, the AFP's Camp Navarro Hospital in Zamoboanga City.
At just before 11AM, the day of the aforementioned ASG raid,after the wounding of the two Abu Sayyaf gunment above,a 2nd IED with an equally powerful payload (a"payload"being the expolsive component of the bomb) detonated at the Cathedral of Santa Isabela and destroyed 70% of the building's compound, wounding thirteen civilians. The bomb had been rigged to a motorcycle parked in the compound's parking lot immediately adjacent to the cathedral itself. Six SUVs were also destroyed along with 10 other motorcycles and 1 habal-habal (motorcycle taxi).
A third IED set in front of the home of Judge Leo Jay Principe, adjacent to Basilan RTC-1 (Regional Trial Court 1) was discovered prior to detonation. An AFP EOD (Explosive and Ordnance Detachment) detonated the device near by.Judge Princpe is the jurist who swore out the warrants for the 130 ASG and MILF 114 Base Command guerillas who are said to have taken part in the infamous joint action in July of 2007 that killed fourteen Marines, ten of whom were then decapitated,on Basilan.
A fourth IED did detonate, though prematurely as a cargo van full of Abu Sayyaf guerillas were driving through the streets of Isabela City at 1135 AM.Their van inexplicably caught fire causing the IED to go off before they could stop and exit the van. The guerillas were killed.
In a tell tale sign of just how low Abu Sayyaf has sunk,the wounded guerilla revealed during interrogation at Camp Navarro that almost all actors were in fact inexperienced youth hired from Basilan's municipality of Tipo Tipo.The operation was entirely devoid of political ideology and the fact that their direct employer was apparently a middle man,brokering the operation clearly points to an act of election sabotage in the avaristic sense, a candidate attempting to gain the upper hand over 1 or another of his (or her) competitors and win the election. Ergo, a political act devoid of political ideology if you will. Since Abu Sayyaf has been operating entirely for profit since 2002, this should come as no suprise.
On April 26th, 2010 in Barangay Baiwas, in the town of Sumisip, five Abu Sayyaf guerillas were killed in an accidental encounter with the AFP, as was one AFP soldier. After that initial bloody encounter running firefights took place throughout the rest of the day. These skirmishes in turn led to another unexpected windfall when the AFP"s 4th Scount Ranger Company (AFP Special Forces) stumbled into a major Abu Sayyaf camp.4 of the Rangers were moderately wounded when 1 inadvertantly tripped a boobytrapped IED inside the camp's perimeter. The IED was fashioned from a 60MM mortar shell with a simple monofilament trip wire.More shells,as is,were recovered as were RPG-2 rounds.
Tuesday, April 27th,2010, on the border of Barangays Pamasatken and Baiwas in the municipality of Sumisip in Basilan Province, an IED detonated wounding three AFP Scout Rangers from the 4th Scout Ranger Company on the side of Bundok Abong-Abong (Abong Abong Mountain) during a firefight with ASG who were wearing captured AFP fatigues along the ridgeline. A fourth Scout Ranger from the same company was wounded in a firefight 30 minutes later under the ridgeline as they began withdrawing to Medivac the 3 previously wounded soldiers.
On Wednesday, May 19th, 2010 at 5PM, in Barangay Bakong, in the town of Sumisip in Basilan Proince,a PNP convoy from Isabela City that had arrived in search of Abu Sayyaf after ASG guerillas had been sighted in and out of the bush outside of town had come up empty and was just turning around for the return trip into Isabela City when they were ambushed by that same band of Abu Sayyaf. Two PNP officers, SPO1 Abdurajik Haji and PO1 Charlie Arsenal were shot to death just as the ambush began. In a stroke of luck, Basilan's Director of the PNP PPO, Senior Superint.Antonio"Tony"Mendoza just missed punching his ticket by a single meter as his unarmoured vehicle managed to round the bend as the shooting began.Talk about thanking your lucky stars.
Two Abu Sayyaf guerillas were killed in that attack as well, one of which, Adduji Kawwil, is an ex-CVO soldier as well as a current Barangay Councilman/Kagawad. He was moonlighting but whether as a guerilla or a councilman depends upon perspective.
Wednesday,May 26th,2010 at 6 AM in Sitio Mompol in Barangay Libug,cin the town of Sumisip,30 Abu Sayyaf guerillas ambushed a jeepney (ubiqitous form of Philippine public transportation,fashioned from WWII Era American military jeeps that have had their axles lengthened to about 10 meters,thus resembling lowriding school busses) that was plying the road between Isabela City and Sumisip.
The Jeepney had just picked up a load of passengers for the return trip to Isabela City when it was flagged down by well armed Abu Sayyaf guerillas. Stopping, all passengers jumped out the rear,3 passengers,all males were singled out and taken away by the gunmen.
Claudio Mananita, an employee of Manggal Agrarian Reform Beneficiary and Development Cooperative, a rubber plantation land distribution concern was the 1st to be ransomed off,for P2 Million (roughly 40,000 Euros).His family,unable to pay anything at all later found that he had been executed.
His two fellow passengers, a gay couple,were executed just 2 hours after being led into the bush,apparently because of their sexual orientation since no ransom demands were even floated (despite widely circulated media reports that the kidnappers had sent SMS messages to victim's grandmother demanding a P1 Million (roughly 20,000 Euros) payment. Also just as inaccurate are the reports that the 2 gay men had been executed at around the same time that Mr.Mananita was,24 hours prior to discovery).The 2,Rolando Francisco Jr. and Dariel Quintela were heading into Isabela City so that Francisco could earn money by styling hair as he tried to save enough to enter college.
The bodies of all 3 men were found on Saturday,June 4th in Barangay Sukaten in the town of Sumisip,after a fire fight at 8am the day before.As the AFP pursued the withdrawing ASG guerillas into their stronghold in Barangay Baiwas they came across the decomposing remains.That fire fight on Friday also wounded 2 AFP soldiers.It is worth noting that all 3 had been shot at close range and not decapitated as has also been reported by the media.
June 11,2010,Saturday,3PM outside of the town of Maluso in Basilan Province,3 men were illegaly logging in the bush, towing logs with caraboa (water buffalo) when they had the extremely bad luck to come across a retreating group of ASG. All 3 were found decapitated in Sitio Pali in Barangay Abong-Abong in that same town,Maluso.
On Wednesday, June 26th, 2010 at about 2PM in Sitio Stardust, in Barangay Tubig,also in the town of Maluso in Basilan Province,a jeepney en route to Sumisip's Barangay Calcaban from Isabela City became the 2nd to be waylaid by Abu Sayyaf in the last four weeks,killing four and critically wounding wounding,including a 10 year old boy.The older wounded passenger was hacked nearly to death by bolo (machete) but despite media reports was not decapitated. The dead were the driver, 35 year old Rodel Weng Circulado and passengers Salsijan Ampuan Sali aged 22,Rahma Anjalun aged 35 and 17 year old Solis Aspalun.
Abu Sayyaf snipers atop a hill strafed the side of the jeepney, killing its driver and causing it to roll to a stop. At that point all passengers jumped out the rear and made a run for it with four being shot as they did so. As mentioned, one unlucky man,though managing to outrun his attacker was still badly mutilated by his pursuer's bolo.
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