Manila: Fifteen Philippine soldiers have been killed this week and 12 others wounded in mounting clashes with the militant group Abu Sayyaf, the military said Tuesday, as the government announced plans to deploy thousands more soldiers to the group’s stronghold in the south.
It said a “series of clashes” had begun Monday, as the troops scoured jungle terrain on the southern island of Jolo in search of rebel fighters and at least 23 hostages, including a Dutch bird-watcher kidnapped in 2012 and a Norwegian abducted last year from a beach resort he helped manage.
A spokesman for President Rodrigo Duterte said Tuesday that the deaths had only strengthened the government’s resolve to crush Abu Sayyaf, which was founded in the early 1990s to fight for an independent Islamic state in the southern Philippines but which in more recent years has degenerated into a kidnap-for-ransom gang known to behead captives.
“The president is focused that the threat of the Abu Sayyaf is terminated as soon as possible,” said the spokesman, Ernesto Abella.
He said the president had approved the deployment of about 2,500 more soldiers, or five battalions, to Jolo to augment the forces there.
It said a “series of clashes” had begun Monday, as the troops scoured jungle terrain on the southern island of Jolo in search of rebel fighters and at least 23 hostages, including a Dutch bird-watcher kidnapped in 2012 and a Norwegian abducted last year from a beach resort he helped manage.
A spokesman for President Rodrigo Duterte said Tuesday that the deaths had only strengthened the government’s resolve to crush Abu Sayyaf, which was founded in the early 1990s to fight for an independent Islamic state in the southern Philippines but which in more recent years has degenerated into a kidnap-for-ransom gang known to behead captives.
“The president is focused that the threat of the Abu Sayyaf is terminated as soon as possible,” said the spokesman, Ernesto Abella.
He said the president had approved the deployment of about 2,500 more soldiers, or five battalions, to Jolo to augment the forces there.