The military killed a suspected leader and a member of the Philippine armed group Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) in separate encounters in Sulu on Friday morning, November 20, 2020.
Lieutenant General Corleto Vinluan Jr. of the Western Mindanao Command (Wesmincom) said troops from the Marine Battalion Landing Team 1 (MBLT-1) were conducting combat operations in Barangay Kawasan at 5:45 AM when they encountered the group of Abu Sayyaf sub-leader Hatud Munap Binda.
The encountered battle with the ASG took 30 minutes which resulted in Binda's death, the troops found an M16 rifle and one M14 rifle.
Vinluan said that Binda was a senior leader of ASG, operating in the municipalities of Kalingalan Caluang and Panamao in Sulu.
Binda has been a member of the terror group since 2002 and was associated with Alhabsi Misaya, a sub-leader of ASG who is involved in the kidnapping incidents around Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
Around 6:45 AM, an hour after the first ASG encounter, troops clashed with the group of Sansibar Bensio just a few meters away from the first encounter site.
Bensio Barahama, Bensio's father, was killed in the 20-minute fight.
"Our good intelligence operations yielded to these positive results and we are grateful that no one from our side was injured during the operations," Colonel Marvin Salvan, commanding officer of the MBLT-1, said.
After that, Vinluan guaranteed that troops in Sulu will remain "vigilant and resilient in eliminating the remaining terrorists who refuse to cooperate with us and continue to inflict terroristic activities in the peaceful communities."
Words by Lalaine Vergara Layout by Kiziah Magbanua
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