Additional Army unit to secure vulnerable Basilan town from militants

MAGUINDANAO --- The Western Mindanao Command will deploy an additional Army battalion in Maluso, Basilan to prevent a repeat of the deadly attack there on Monday by Abu Sayyaf bandits.Lt. General Carlito Galvez, Jr., commander of Westmincom, said on Thursday that the contingent will augment soldiers and police personnel guarding the town from incursions by the militant group.Galvez said the augmentation unit shall also engage in civil-military activities in support of the public administration thrusts of Maluso Mayor Hanie Bud.Nine villagers, among them a local militiaman, were killed while 16 others were hurt when Abu Sayyaf gunmen under Furudji Indama attacked Barangay Tubigan, Maluso on Monday.The bandits, disguised as soldiers, fired at houses of Muslim and Christian settlers and attacked villagers who tried to run away.Many of the slain and wounded villagers were ethnic Tausug Muslims.Armed villagers returned fire, killing four of the attackers and wounding six others.The Abu Sayyaf gunmen burned four houses and a barangay day care center before they escaped carrying their dead and wounded companions.They also killed and beheaded a retired soldier in another barangay while fleeing towards Sampinit area, a forested hinterland in the center of the island province.The office of Gov. Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao on Wednesday dispersed initially a truckload of relief supplies for the conflict-stricken residents of Barangay Tubigan.The relief supplies were distributed to internally-displaced barangay folk by local officials who also facilitated the release of cash assistance from ARMM to families of the villagers killed in the carnage.Hataman and Bud, a first-termer mayor, had separately condemned the Abu Sayyaf attack on Barangay Tubigan, the third in about 15 years. The additional Army battalion we are deploying there will prevent a repeat of those harassments by lawless elements, Galvez said.Residents of Barangay Tubigan want a larger Army detachment in the area.The barangay is about five kilometers away from the town proper of Maluso.Muslim and Christian residents there are known in Basilan for their utmost loyalty to the government, in conflict with lawless groups since the1970s as members then of the now defunct Civilian Home Defense Force and presently either as civilian volunteers and para-military personnel.Aureliano Laping, barangay chairman of Tubigan, said he is apprehensive the bandits that attacked on Monday will return to avenge the deaths of companions killed by his armed constituents in the ensuing encounter.Barangay residents claimed killing no fewer than four bandits in gunfights that lasted for more than an hour.Laping has long been a target of the Abu Sayyaf for having joined, as leader of a local community militia, in military operations against the group during the 1990s.His children and other relatives are also popular for their fabled ferocity in fighting lawless elements that stray into their barangay.Barangayresidents told reporterson Tuesdaythat only a small team of local members of the Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit supervised by a soldier guards their villages of mixed Muslim and Christian settlers.Local officials said the Abu Sayyaf gunmen who raided Barangay Tubigan earlyMondaycould have burned down many houses there if not for the armed residents who engaged them in running gunfights.