Fight Against Terror in Philippines
Bochoy Laja Ordonez, an aide of Abu Sayyaf spokesman Abu Sabaya, was captured by the military at a market in Maluso on the island of Basilan last Thursday buying medicine, cigarettes and other supplies.
The military said Ordonez led them to a hideout of the Abu Sayyaf in jungle outside the town on Sunday, prompting a heavy clash between the military and the guerrillas.
Military Staff Sergeant Ramile Taule, who guarded Ordonez at a dilapidated school building in Maluso, said the Abu Sayyaf man apparently got hold of a grenade early on Tuesday.
"I went to relieve myself but when I looked back, I saw him holding something under the blanket. I asked 'What's that?' Then there was an explosion," Taule, who was himself hit by shrapnel in both legs, told reporters.
He said Ordonez, who was in handcuffs, had probably stolen the grenade. The military used helicopter gunships and heavy weapons in the clash and officers say they believed the guerrillas suffered heavy losses. But the fighting was in thick jungle and no bodies were found. Only blood.
The guerrillas, who are holding 11 hostages including an American couple kept in captivity for almost five months, have been linked to the al Qaeda network of Saudi-born bin Laden.
The United States, which has named bin Laden as the chief suspect in the September 11 attacks, has sent a team of advisers to the Philippines to help crack down on the Abu Sayyaf.
On Tuesday, a five-man military section of the team arrived in Zamboanga, the staging point of military operations in the southern Philippines and went into discussions with local officers.
There has been little fighting in the area since Sunday night, but army officers said troops were in pursuit of the
rebels and believed the hostages were in tow.
Military spokesman General Edilberto Adan said in a radio interview that the military hoped to "drastically reduce the capability" of the Abu Sayyaf by November by capturing their leaders.
"We would have brought down (the Abu Sayyaf problem).. by the end of the month to a police level situation," he said. The Abu Sayyaf claims to be fighting for a Muslim homeland in the south of the mainly Catholic Philippines but appears to concentrate on kidnap for ransom.
The group has two main factions, one operating on Basilan and one on nearby Jolo. Both islands are about 900 km (560 miles) south of Manila.
The Jolo faction kidnapped Westerners and other tourists from a Malaysian beach resort last year and according to local media received some $20 million in ransom payments. In fighting on Jolo on Sunday, the military claimed it had killed 18 rebels.
The Basilan faction abducted 20 people, including three Americans, from a resort in the western Philippines on May 27. It has executed one American, and is still holding Gracia and Martin Burnham, a couple who were both working for the U.S.-based New Tribes Mission.
Many of the Filipino hostages have been released in exchange for ransom and some have been executed. The guerrillas have also kidnapped fresh victims while fleeing troop pursuit on Basilan.