The Philippine military will deploy more marines to a southern island province to intensify a US-backed operation against the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group, which lost a top leader in a recent clash, military officials said yesterday.
A marine brigade, or about 1,500 men, will be moved from Marawi city on the main southern island of Mindanao to the island province of Basilan next week, said Vice Admiral Rogelio Calunsag, commander of the Philippine navy, which has operational control over the marines.
Calunsag said it will "boost the support system" and consolidate the marine forces in the southwestern Philippine island provinces where the Abu Sayyaf operates -- Basilan, Jolo and Tawi-Tawi.
"That is the purpose of this -- for us to have a heightened, sustained operation," Calunsag said.
On Thursday, marines battled about 30 Abu Sayyaf gunmen under two prominent commanders -- Radulan Sahiron and Abu Pula -- killing nine militants and capturing three on Jolo, farther south of Basilan.
The marines earlier reported 10 Abu Sayyaf gunmen were killed in that battle, but Calunsag told reporters yesterday one of them was discovered still alive when the bodies were brought to a military camp.
On Tuesday, army soldiers on Jolo killed Abu Sulaiman, who is on the US and Philippine most-wanted lists and with a US$5 million bounty on his head from Washington.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not