Security forces hunting down ‘threat groups’ – Malacañang

Government security forces have been mobilized to hunt down and neutralize “threat groups” in the country to ensure the safety and protection of the public, Malacañang assured on Friday.

The relentless pursuit operations came after eight self-proclaimed members of the Islamic State were killed by military troops in Sultan Kudarat last Thursday.

“The AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) and the PNP (Philippine National Police) are conducting continuing law enforcement operations against threat groups. There are continuing efforts to verify if indeed there are possible links of such groups with other threat elements within and outside the country,” Presidential Communications Operations Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said in a statement.

“Our security forces are committed and focused on ensuring the safety and well being of our citizens whose vigilance and cooperation are essential in maintaining peace and order,” Coloma added.

Soldiers reportedly engaged the group Ansar Al Khalifa Philippines, supposedly linked with the Islamic State, in a 30-minute gunfight in Palimbang town, Sultan Kudarat last Thursday morning. Bodies of the slain armed men were recovered during the clearing operations, along with their weapons and other ammunition.

Defiant ASG attacks army base But despite massive government operations against them, members of the ASG seem to taunt the military by attacking an Army battalion headquarters on the island province of Sulu.

Joint Task Group Sulu commander Brig. Gen. Alan Arrojado said ASG members who were positioned in Sitios Tandu Bato and Laha, both in Barangay Bonbon, Patikul, Sulu successively fired at the headquarters of the Army’s 32nd Infantry Battalion located in the area around 7 p.m. on Wednesday.

The building occupied by the officers of the unit was reportedly hit by a slug of unknown caliber.

Arrojado said that following the attack, soldiers conducted clearing operations within a three kilometer radius of the camp and recovered three M-16 rifles, two Garand rifles and an M-14 rifle in a makeshift hut.

The firearms were believed to have been “hastily abandoned by the followers of Radullan Sahiron,” said Arrojado. (With a report from Elena L. Aben)