Troops seize Abu Sayyaf camp in BasilanMANILA, Philippines –Government troops found an abandoned camp believed to be used as training ground for new recruits of the bandit group, Abu Sayyaf, in Sumisip, Basilan.
The military discovered the camp during its combat and clearing operations in Barangay Baiwas, Sumisip town last March 11.
Rear Admiral Alexander Pama, commander of the Western Mindanao Naval Forces, said the camp served as a training area for the bandit’s new recruits. Several materials used in making anti-personnel bombs such as detonating devices, fragmentation grenades, batteries, nails as shrapnel, detonating cords and ammonium nitrate were found in the camp.
They also found several notebooks and documents detailing the alleged trainings done by the new recruits.
The military burned down several makeshift houses made of nipa to ensure that the bandits will not be able to use them again.
Pama said the bandit group is headed by Puruji Indama and Kair Mundos.
With the items recovered from the camp, Pama said the ASG remains a security threat.
He added that the bandits use anti-personnel explosives against the military. He believes that it was used in the bombings in Basilan.
However, he said the local bandits have no foreign assistance because they continue with their kidnapping activities as their source of funds.
On February 27, the bandits attacked Barangay Tubigan in Maluso also in Basilan. The attack resulted to the death of more than a dozen of civilians. Report from David Santos, ABS-CBN Zamboanga
