Philippines vows to ‘destroy’ Abu Sayyaf militants who killed 18 troops

MANILA // Philippine military officials vowed on Sunday to destroy the Abu Sayyaf extremist group with more offensives after fierce fighting over the weekend killed 18 soldiers in the government’s largest single-day combat loss so far this year.

Defence secretary Voltaire Gazmin and top military officials flew to the south to meet most of the 53 soldiers who were wounded in fighting with Abu Sayyaf militants that raged for nearly 10 hours on Saturday in the hinterlands on Basilan island. At least five militants, including a Moroccan fighter, were killed, the military said.

The large number of casualties were reported as the Philippines marked the Day of Valor on Saturday to remember Filipino veterans who died in the Second World War.

“After we grieve for our soldiers, we shall continue the fight,” Mr Gazmin and the military said in a joint statement.

Army chief Lt Gen Eduardo Ano said the military aims to “finally destroy the Abu Sayyaf, especially now that we have found the exact location of the group”.

A major offensive on Saturday targeted Abu Sayyaf commander Isnilon Hapilon, who has publicly pledged allegiance to the ISIL extremist group and has been hunted for years for his alleged role in several terrorist attacks, military officials said.

The Abu Sayyaf militants, however, managed to reinforce their ranks as the fighting dragged. While scouring a rebel area, the troops were met by heavy weapons fire and hit by explosions that may have been caused by bombs, Lt Gen Ano said.

Among the slain militants was a Moroccan identified as Mohammad Khattab and a son of Hapilon, Tan said, adding that about 20 other gunmen were wounded.

While the Abu Sayyaf has been considerably weakened by more than a decade of US-backed Philippine offensives, the large number of military casualties on Saturday underscores the militants’ resiliency and the complexity of addressing the decades-long security problems in the south – homeland of minority Muslims in the predominantly Roman Catholic Philippines.

* Associated Press