A TOTAL 15 Abu Sayyaf members were killed while 17 soldiers were wounded in two separate clashes places Friday in Patikul, Sulu, the military said.
But based on the official report of the Army’s Special Operation Command, only six Abu Sayyaf bodies were recovered although a separate media report said the ASG claimed they suffered only 12 casualties.
Earlier, Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) spokesman Jamor Felimon Tan Jr. said the six casualties included an ASG sub-leader from an encounter that started at sunrise in Sitio Makaita, Barangay Bunkaong.
But in the SOCOM report, the two separate encounters happened in Sitio Tubig Magkawasin Barangay Langhub and Sitio Pangi in Barangay Bunkaong where the 15 Abu Sayyaf casualties were recorded.
It said the bodies of the six ASG casualties were recovered from the encounter sites, while nine bodies were hauled away by the fleeing bandits.
It also confirmed the death of Mohammad Said, an ASB sub-leader, who was involved in the abduction in September 2015 of John Ridsdel and Robert Hall, both Canadians; Kjartan Sekkingstad, a Norwegian; and Hall’s Filipina girlfriend Maritess Flor from a resort in the Island Garden City of Samal.
The ASG beheaded Hall and Ridsdel after their families failed to deliver a P300-million ransom for each victim. Flor was freed later while Sekkingstad was still in custody.
This week, the ASG beheaded another kidnap victim, Jhames Almodavar, after his family failed to produce P1 million ransom.
President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police to eliminate the ASG menace in Basilan and Sulu.