AFP trims force pursuing Abu Sayyaf in Basilan

MANILA, Philippines - The Armed Forces has disbanded its Joint Task Force Thunder, a unit it tasked to go after Abu Sayyaf terrorists in Basilan, and created a smaller group to undertake the same mission. In an interview Wednesday, Armed Forces chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr said with the downgrade, only one Marine brigade will be maintained for anti-Abu Sayyaf missions in Basilan. He noted that the military has pulled out an Army brigade from Basilan over a month ago for redeployment in another area in Mindanao. "We are downgrading now, deactivating Joint Task Force Thunder because it's only (composed of) one brigade now. We have pulled out the 105th Infantry Brigade (of the Army out of Basilan)," said Esperon. Esperon said the hunt against the Abu Sayyaf terrorists responsible for the July 10, 2007 ambush of Marine soldiers in Al Barkah town will continue. Fourteen soldiers died in the ambush, 10 of them were beheaded and mutilated. “It will go on," he said of the operations against the beheaders of the Marine soldiers. “Despite the reduction of forces, the hunt against the Abu Sayyaf members, group leaders in Basilan will go on," he said. Esperon also announced that the commander of the now-defunct task force – Brig. Gen. Juancho Sabban - will head the Joint Task Force Comet, replacing retiring Maj. Gen. Ruben Rafael. The Joint Task Force Comet is composed of two Marine brigades and two Army battalions. "General Sabban will be installed shortly as the Joint Task Force Comet commander. He is going back to Jolo," said Esperon of Saban who previously commanded in Sulu a Marine brigade that killed Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani in a fire fight in September 2006. Esperon said the re-assignment of Saban as the commander of the bigger Joint Task Force Comet is actually a promotion. "That’s a two-star position...General Rafael got his second star in that position," Esperon also said. - GMANews.TV