3 more Abu Sayyaf killed in ongoing clash in Bohol town

CLARIN, Bohol—Three more members of Abu Sayyaf were killed in the raging gun-battle with government troops who had been pursuing them since noon on Saturday.

The suspects were killed during the clash in the mountain village of Caboy in Clarin past 8 p.m.,

Bodies of the three Abu SAyyaf members killed in a clash in Clarin town, Bohol are brought to the funeral parlor for processing. Photo by Leo Udtohan, Inquirer Visayas

said a source in the military.

Caboy is at least 3 km from Barangay Bacani where government troops shot and killed Abu Sayyaf leader, Joselito Melloria while they were fleeing.

One of the fatalities was shot in the neck while two others were hit in the body.

Their bodies were retrieved from the clash site past 10 p.m. and brought to Clarin Funeral Homes for processing where Melloria was also brought.

Melloria is a native of Barangay Napo in nearby Inabanga town who left the village a few years back to marry a daughter of an Abu Sayyaf leader.

He returned last April 10 with a group of 10 other Abu Sayyaf members who purportedly planned to set up a base and conduct terror activities in nearby provinces and disrupt the ongoing Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit in Panglao town, Bohol which ended on Saturday.

Four Abu Sayyaf members were earlier killed during the gun-battle in Barangay Napo that last for about 24 hours which also involved at least 10 airstrikes from the Philippine Air Force.

The government troops were still hunting down the remaining four other Abu Sayyaf members who fled with Melloria to Clarin and believed to have hidden inside a cave in the town’s Barangay Bacani.

The military had cordoned off the cave and the surrounding areas in an attempt to prevent the bandit group from escaping.