Elite unit sent to Zambo, Tawi-tawi to fight Abu Sayyaf

The Armed Forces of the Philippines on Friday deployed members of a Philippine Navy elite unit to areas in the southern Philippines where the terrorist bandit group Abu Sayyaf is known to operate. Twenty-three members of the Naval Special Operations Group (Navsog) were flown to Tawi-Tawi and the Zamboanga region on Friday to assist in the military’s fight against terrorism, Navy spokesman Lt. (Sg.) Rommel Rodriguez said. “They were deployed to reinforce the Armed Forces’ fight against (terrorists) in Mindanao, which they vowed to put an end to as pronounced by the AFP," he told reporters on Friday. The team, composed of soldiers trained in extreme combat conditions on land, air and sea similar to the US Navy SEALs, left Villamor Air Base in Pasay City at early dawn aboard a C-130 plane, according to Rodriguez. The military considers certain areas of Tawi-Tawi and Zamboanga as strongholds of the Abu Sayyaf group, which is blamed for various bombing and kidnapping incidents both in Mindanao and Metro Manila. Similar elite troops were responsible for the killing of Abu Sayyaf spokesman Abu Sabaya in Zamboanga in 2002.—ACC/JV, GMANews.TV