ZAMBOANGA CITY – Four persons, including three security personnel of
the Tumahubong Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Integrated Development
Coop. Inc. (TARBIDCI), were killed in an ambush by alleged Abu Sayyaf
gunmen in Sumisip, Basilan early morning on Maundy Thursday, the
military said.
Seven other persons were wounded in the attack on workers of the
cooperative in Tumahubong village around 5:45 a.m., Colonel Ricardo
Visaya of the 104th Infantry Brigade said.
Visaya identified the slain security personnel as Nulmer Lumbos, who
was driving the cooperative’s patrol vehicle, Nusaman Hatula and Hassan
Manjapal.
Wounded were Macion Bonifacio, Reynaldo Pia, Alihol Bistanul, Pangamdas Mujib, Munap Saalul, Ahmad Ibrahim and Lucman Unzah.
Visaya said the cooperative’s security personnel were on a patrol
vehicle and were securing an area – where about a dozen rubber tappers
were to work – when fired at by the Abu Sayyaf men under Puruji Indama.
Visaya said responding elements of the Army’s 4th Scout Ranger
Battalion under Lieutenant Colonel Armand Arevalo had clashed with the
bandits and killed one Abu Sayyaf member in the process.
“One ASG suspect identified as certain Bakrim was killed,” he said.
The Abu Sayyaf is a ragtag band of self-styled Islamists being linked with Osama Bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network of terror.
Most of its senior leaders landed in Washington’s list of most wanted
terrorists because of the Abu Sayyaf’s involvement in high-profile
kidnappings – including of foreigners – and bombing activities.
Although previously dismissed by the military as a spent force, the
Abu Sayyaf – founded in the 1980s by a Abdurajak Janjalani – continues
to sow terror, especially in remote villages of Western Mindanao,
Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.
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Julie Alipala, Katherine Evangelista | INQUIRER.net, Philippine Daily Inquirer | April 5, 2012 | Link
