ARMM gov recommends all-out offensive vs. Abu Sayyaf after Basilan ambush

COTABATO CITY — Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Regional Governor Mujiv Hataman has recommended an all-out military offensive against the Abu Sayaff Group (ASG) after an ambush that claimed the lives of six soldiers in a remote village of Sumisip, Basilan early Sunday.

Hataman dismissed the possibility that he was the target of the assailants but admits he might have been caught in the ambush had he arrived earlier.
 
“I'm here in Basilan today for a project visit, we were about to go next to Sumisip town to visit the completion of the circumferential road when we were informed while travelling from Isabela town that an ambush took place”, Hataman said.
 
Isabela is around two hours away from Sumisip town.
 
Despite the danger, Hataman and his team, together with the Army’s 104th Brigade commander Col. Rolando Bautista proceeded to the ambush site.
 
“It was devastating, the soldiers had almost nowhere to run," the governor said, noting the ASG had managed to surround the troops. He said the ASG may have found a pattern in the soldiers' patrol route.

The troops were conducting a security patrol in Sitio Mompol, Barangay Libug  around 7:30 a.m. when they were waylaid by around 20 bandits led by a certain Radzmi Jannatul and a certain Katatung.
 
“We highly condemn this cowardly act of [the] ASG. This road project is meant to address hardships of the people here who feel they are neglected, I am recommending an all-out offensive against these terrorist groups”, Hataman said.
 
The Basilan circumferential road is a multimillion-peso project that runs 80 kilometers. Around 2.5 kilometers have yet to be finished on the road project, which began in 2011.

The road connects nearly half of the province's main highways.

Despite the incident, Hataman said the project will be finished soon. — Ferdinandh Cabrera/JDS, GMA News