ARROYO REVS UP SULU OFFENSIVE (tags)
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Saturday remained steadfast to her administration’s all-out war against the Abu Sayyaf group and other rogue elements accused of beheading 10 of the 14 Marines who died in a July 10 firefight in Tipo-Tipo, Basilan. Mrs Arroyo said the war in Mindanao, which so far claimed the lives of 25 soldiers and wounded 10 others, is not an act of vengeance but a strategy to win peace," against those who spread “mayhem" and “bloodsport" in the South. “We cannot allow terrorists to hold the South hostage to their agenda of mayhem and bloodsport," she said.
Philippine Marines sent to finish off ASG, JI in Sulu, Mindanao (tags)
A ranking military official disclosed that some of the 1st Marine Brigade battalions will be redirected to Sulu instead of Basilan province from Lanao to help in the pursuit against the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiah (JI) terrorists in the area. The switching of deployment between the Lanao-based marine and Basilan-based Army 103rd Infantry Brigade was recently ordered by Armed Forces Chief-of-Staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, Jr.
MINDANAO:80 SAYYAF KILLED IN PATIKUL SULU FIGHTING (tags)
Military officials said Wednesday that more than 80 members of the Abu Sayyaf have been killed in three days of fierce fighting in Jolo, where soldiers were trying to capture two Jemaah Islamiah leaders linked to the 2002 Bali bombings.