At least nine members of the Abu Sayyaf kidnap group were killed in air strikes and clashes with troops in the southern Philippines, the military here said Sunday.
In Manila, President Gloria Arroyo vowed that the war against the rebels, who hold 18 US and Filipino hostages, would continue until the captives were free and the kidnappers wiped out.
Five rebels were killed Thursday when military intelligence pin pointed a camp in the tiny island of Malanta, off the vast Sulu archipelago in the south, armed forces southern command chief Lieutenant General Roy Cimatu said.
He said two MG-520 attack helicopters were promptly dispatched, killing at least five rebels and destroying rebel bunkers and speedboats.
"We believe these are some of the Abu Sayyaf who fled from troops operating in the mainland," Cimatu said, referring to Jolo island where the Abu Sayyaf still hold a Filipino dive instructor, the sole remaining captive from a kidnapping spree of foreigners and Filipinos that netted them millions of dollars in ransom money last year.
More than 5,000 soldiers have been dispatched to nearby Basilan island where another faction is holding the western and Filipino hostages.
Also on Thursday, infantrymen killed a rebel commander named Abdurasad Sali and three of his aides in a clash in the mountain village of Tiis Kuttong in Jolo, the military said.
Cimatu said operations against the rebels, who are believed to have once received financial aid from the world's most wanted man Osama bin Laden, have shifted up a tempo.
The hostages will be rescued soon, Cimatu said, adding that "it is just a matter of timing."
President Arroyo meanwhile said the military had been successful in eroding the support base of the rebels, who claim to be Islamic freedom fighters.
She told Radio Mindanao Network that the military campaign has reduced the rebels' support from 80 to 50 percent of the estimated 200,000 people in predominantly Muslim Basilan island.
Arroyo also reiterated her government's all-out support for a US-led global war on terrorism, repeating an offer of combat troops should they be requested but only with the concurrence of Congress.
The US military already has permission to use Philippine airspace and its airports for refueling or transhipment of supplies, as it prepares to mount an attack on Afghanistan's ruling Taliban in retaliation for the September 11 attacks on the US.
More than 75 percent of Manila residents back the Arroyo administration's support for America's anti-terror coalition, the president said, quoting a survey -- ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
