Mindanao, 16 dead in clashes between army and Abu Sayyaf Islamic extremists
Manila (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The
death toll from clashes between the Philippine military and Muslim Abu Sayyaf
guerrillas that began yesterday in the town of Sumisip, (Basilan, Mindanao) now stands at 16
people. Among the 12 killed were soldiers.
Col. Randolph Cabangbang, head of the troops in Western
Mindanao, said fighting is still in
progress in the area of Sumisip.
In efforts to defeat the militants
the army has intervened with helicopter gunships.
The violence broke out in one of the largest
rubber plantations in the region,
the scene of other attacks by Islamists which
cost 5 dead and 22 wounded, mostly farmers.
According to the army Wyms Wakil, the former head of the cooperative that manages the plantation now one of the local leaders
of Abu Sayyaf, is orchestrating the
assaults on soldiers and workers.
Sumisip was one
of the first cities to apply the
agricultural land reform that provides for the subdivision
of large plantations
among the small farmers, but to date no criteria
for the allocation of land has been set.
This has encouraged every village in the area to claim their share, resulting in clashes between rival factions. The province of Basilan is predominantly Muslim, but most of the villages and settlements inside the
plantations are Christian. Local
sources explain that the local
Muslims who were previously excluded from the land are using the
name of Abu Sayyaf and threats against Christians to draw attention to the problem of land and push the
government to clarify their reform in favor of
the peasants and not landowners.
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25/08/2020 11:32
