Maritime security forces beefed up as Abu Sayyaf strikes again

LESS THAN a week after the military reported the rescue of the last captive of the Abu Sayyaf Group, maritime security forces have again been reinforced as they pursue members of the kidnap-for-ransom gang who abducted five Indonesians fishermen over the weekend. The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said on Monday that personnel of its Tawi-Tawi station were deployed to help teams from the Philippine Army and Philippine Navy (PN) during an encounter with the Abu Sayyaf in Barangay Lakit, where four suspected Abu Sayyaf members were killed. “The PCG deployed floating assets and conducted joint naval blockade with the PN in monitoring possible escape routes of the ASG,” the PCG said. On Sunday, Philippine National Police-Maritime Group Director R’win S. Pagkalinawan reported that joint forces in pursuit operations in Sulare Island, Sulu killed one of the kidnappers and the speed boat used by the Abu Sayyaf, which has ties with the extremist Islamic State, “was recovered in an ongoing firefight.”