By Carlos H. Conde
International Herald Tribune
Published: August 12, 2007
MANILA: The Philippine government has relocated its military headquarters and stepped up its offensive against Islamic extremists in the south, sending hundreds of additional troops to the province of Sulu, where fighting in recent days left at least 25 Philippine soldiers dead.
A similar number of militants from the Al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf and the Moro National Liberation Front were killed in two fierce gunbattles after an ambush on a military convoy on Jolo Island, in the same province, on Thursday.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Saturday ordered the relocation of the Philippine Army headquarters to Zamboanga, a city in Mindanao near Sulu. The defense secretary and several senior generals have been dispatched there to coordinate what is being described as a massive military operation against the Islamist insurgency.
Two battalions will be pulled out from the central and northern Philippines, where they have been fighting communist guerrillas, and deployed to Sulu, said Lieutenant Colonel Ernesto Torres, an army spokesman.
“The military offensive against the Abu Sayyaf must continue, not as an act of vengeance but as a strategy to win the peace,” Arroyo said. “We cannot allow terrorists to hold the south hostage to their agenda of mayhem and bloodsport.”
She said the transfer of the army headquarters would be a temporary measure until the situation “normalizes.”
Fierce fighting in Sulu, a mainly Muslim province 950 kilometers, or about 600 miles, south of Manila, broke out last week as the government intensified operations against Abu Sayyaf 10 Filipino marines were beheaded on nearby Basilan Island in July.
On Thursday, at least 25 army soldiers were killed in two separate firefights on Sulu, the biggest death toll for the military in a single day in recent years, according to General Hermogenes Esperon, the armed forces chief of staff. He said at least 32 members of Abu Sayyaf were killed in Thursday’s encounter and in the days afterward.
Among the militants killed, officials said, was the son of a senior Abu Sayyaf leader who had provided sanctuary to Indonesian operatives of the regional militant group Jemaah Islamiyah, which is linked to the 2002 Bali bombings.
Officials said nearly 50,000 residents fled their homes for fear of being caught in the crossfire. Nongovernmental groups have warned of a potential humanitarian disaster on the island if the fighting, which has so far been contained to three townships, spills into other areas.
The first batch of reinforcements arrived in Sulu on Saturday, with more troops scheduled to arrive over the next few days.
“We are continuing with our operations to be able to cordon off and finally destroy the Abu Sayyaf,” Torres said.
A peace agreement signed in 1996 by the government and the Moro National Liberation Front, the largest Islamic secessionist group in the country, has failed to stop the fighting. A splinter group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, is engaged in peace negotiations with the government, but the talks have yielded little progress.
Complicating the situation is the presence of the Abu Sayyaf, a militant group composed mainly of Islamic extremists who are notorious for kidnapping and beheading their victims. Officials said “rogue elements” from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Moro National Liberation Front are working with the Abu Sayyaf, a charge that the groups have denied.
The U.S. military also maintains a presence in Sulu. The Philippine military said that with help from the United States it has reduced the strength of Abu Sayyaf to between 300 and 400 militants from more than 1,000 in 2000.
