By Hader Glang
ZAMBOANGA CITY, (AA): Abu Sayyaf militants have attacked a detachment of the Philippines Army in the troubled island archipelago of Sulu in the southern Philippines.
Brigadier General Alan Arrojado, commander of Sulu Joint Task Force Group, said Saturday that three people were wounded after the Al-Qaeda-linked group attacked the detachment in Taglibi, Patikul town on Friday afternoon.
“The Taglibi detachment [building] under 32nd Infantry Battalion was burned down by more or less 20 suspected Abu Sayyaf members wearing army uniform,” Arrojado told Anadolu Agency.
According to Arrojado, elements of Jolo police and members of a local peacekeeping force responded to the incident resulting in a 20-minute firefight.
He added that indiscriminate firing had resulted in the wounding of three civilians, aged 17, 18, and 61.
“The injured two teenagers are students of Patikul National High School. All the victims were rushed to Sulu Integrate provincial hospital for bullet wounds.”
Since 1991, the Abu Sayyaf — armed with mostly improvised explosive devices, mortars and automatic rifles — has carried out bombings, kidnappings, assassinations and extortion in a self-determined fight for an independent Islamic province in the Philippines.
It is notorious for beheading victims after ransoms have failed to be paid for their release.