AFTER suffering a series of setbacks in the hands of the military, the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf group retaliated against hapless civilians in a village in Basilan on Saturday, leaving 12 people dead and 10 injured during the dawn attack.
About 70 Abu Sayyaf gunmen backed by rogue elements of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front fired grenade launchers and automatic rifles on houses while residents were asleep in Tubigan, Maluso town, police and military officials said.
A government-armed militiaman and 11 civilians were killed. “They spared no one, not even the children,” deputy police commander Sonny David said.
Westmincom chief Lt. Gen. Ben Dolorfino said Abu Sayyaf commander Furuji Indama was responsible for the raid.
The attack came hours after government forces rescued two Chinese nationals, Zu Shun Lu and Bo Shung Tan, of Hi-Tech Wood Craft Corp. from nearby Sumisip town. The hostage takers beheaded a Filipino employee of the plywood factory, Mark Singson, after his employer failed to pay ransom. The three were abducted in Maluso in November.
Abu Sayyaf commander Albader Parad—wanted for murder and kidnappings, including last year’s abduction of three Red Cross workers—was killed by government soldiers on Feb. 21 during a raid on his camp in Jolo. The US government placed a $1-million bounty on Parad’s head, and P7 million by Philippine authorities, for kidnapping high-profile victims, including three workers of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Marine Corps commandant Maj. Gen. Juancho Sabban said.
A day earlier, police captured Mujibar Alih Amon, an alleged Abu Sayyaf logistics officer who took part in the 2000 abduction of American Muslim convert Jeffrey Schilling, who later escaped, and 21 Western tourists and staff of a Malaysian resort earlier that year.
On Feb. 18 security forces captured Jumadali Arad, who allegedly operated the speedboat used in the abduction of 20 hostages snatched from a southwestern resort in 2001. The hostages included three Americans, two of whom were later killed.
President Arroyo said the strafing and burning of houses by the Abu Sayyaf could both be a “diversionary effort and retaliatory attack” to dampen the momentum of the military in running after the bandit group following Parad’s death.
With Parad’s death, the Abu Sayyaf was left without a leader and it would be easier to neutralize other commanders of the group, Director General Milo Ibrado of the National Security Council said.
“We have to seize the momentum in our efforts to wipe out this bandit group. There will be no let-up in our offensives,” Ibrado said.
Four children were among those killed, said armed forces spokesman Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner. He corrected an earlier report that the target of the attack was the village’s militia detachment. “They really attacked the villagers,” he said.
One of the villagers, who are mostly farmers, told police he was awakened by the sound of gunfire and saw blood oozing from his body.
The gunmen strafed and torched at least 10 houses before escaping. A 32-year-old woman and her one-year-old daughter burned to death in their house, David said.
At least 11 who suffered burns and gunshot wounds were taken by boat to two hospitals in nearby Zamboanga City. AP, Florante Solmerin, Joyce Pangco Pañares
