‘Keep extremists on the run,’ Esperon tells troops

By Joel Guinto
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 12:37pm (Mla time) 01/10/2007

ARMED Forces chief of staff General Hermogenes Esperon Jr. ordered troops to keep Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) militants “on the run” in Sulu, following the neutralization of seven bandits, including three sub-commanders, over the past three days, a military spokesman said.

Esperon issued the directive Wednesday as he inspected the military’s security preparations in Cebu City on the eve of the 12th Association of Southeast Asian nations (ASEAN), Armed Forces spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Bartolome Bacarro said.

“Threat groups should be kept on the run to prevent them from staging any terror activity here in Cebu,” Bacarro said in a text message quoting Esperon.

But Bacarro again reiterated that there was “no definite threat” of terror attacks on the ASEAN summit.

“The chief of staff was satisfied with the security preparations. It’s all systems go…Our preparations are sufficient to foil any threat,” Bacarro said.

Some 5,500 soldiers and 7,000 policemen have been tasked to secure the regional leaders’ meeting, which will finally push through after being postponed in early December due to a typhoon.

On Wednesday evening, Abu Sayyaf sub-commander and spiritual adviser Binang Sali was killed in an encounter with Army Scout Ranger and intelligence troops on Mount Pula in Upper Halay village, Patikul town.

Last Saturday, five Abu Sayyaf bandits, including sub-commanders Abu Hubaida and Jundam Jumalul alias Black Killer, and Indonesian JI militant, Gufran, were killed in a gun battle at sea with Navy and Marine troops off Tawi-Tawi province.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has called the Tawi-Tawi encounter a “stunning victory” for the military and warned the extremists that they are “doomed to annihilation.”

Click here to access article as posted on INQUIRER.net