Five soldiers and three Abu Sayyaf bandits, including a suspected foreign terrorist, were killed on Saturday in a two-hour gun battle in Patikul, Sulu province, after government troops assaulted the lair of the suspected brains behind the Jan. 27 bombing of a Catholic church in Jolo. ADVERTISEMENTAmong the wounded was Indang Susukan, the notorious Abu Sayyaf subgroup leader who was linked to various murders and kidnappings in the province, Monfort said. Sawadjaan’s group is said to be the only Abu Sayyaf faction that harbors foreign IS terrorists. Año on Friday said Sawadjaan’s group guided and assisted the Indonesian couple who carried out the “suicide bombing” at the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cathedral in Jolo. Monfort identified the foreign terrorist who was killed on Saturday as “Abu Black.”“As of now, we can’t tell the nationality of Abu Black, but he is a known foreign terrorist” who operated in Cotabato, he said.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer February 02, 2019 21:22 UTC