AFP to deploy 1st Brigade Combat Team in Sulu for anti-ASG ops

By Priam Nepomuceno

MANILA — The military will deploy the 1st Brigade Combat Team (1BCT) to Sulu in line with ongoing efforts to neutralize the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) terrorists.

“Now that the election period is over and national candidates have been proclaimed, we are redeploying forces to security challenged areas like Sulu Archipelago for focused military operations,” Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesperson, Marine Brig. Gen. Edgard Arevalo said in an interview with reporters Thursday.

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Source: pna.gov.ph

Sabah dusk-to-dawn sea curfew extended by another two weeks

By Stephanie Lee

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah’s dusk-to-dawn sea curfew will be extended for another two weeks until June 10, says Police Commissioner Datuk Omar Mammah.

He said the extension of the 6pm to 6am curfew was needed due to continuous threats from cross-border criminals, including from kidnap-for-ransom groups.

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Source: thestar.com.my

The Deadly Evolution of Abu Sayyaf and the Sea

By Meghan Curran

On the morning of January 27, 2019, two bombs exploded inside the Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, in Jolo on the Sulu Province in the southern Philippines. Tearing a hole through the cathedral during a Sunday service, the bombs claimed 20 lives, injured dozens more, and propelled Islamist extremism in the Philippines back into international headlines. In the aftermath of the blast, Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte promised to “pursue to the ends of the Earth the ruthless perpetrators behind [the] dastardly crime,”as the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), the country’s notoriously violent Islamic separatist group, claimed responsibility for the attack. While President Duterte may not need to go to the “ends of the Earth” to put an end to the ASG-fueled terror, his government will certainly need to act beyond its own shores. Illicit maritime activities are at the root of ASG funding and operations, and ensuring the group’s defeat will require focused government efforts to improve maritime security in its area of operations.

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Source: cimsec.org

US Coast Guard ship arrives in PH to boost both nations’ maritime security capabilities

By Betheena Kae Unite

An American vessel that will conduct several exercises and improve the maritime security capabilities of the United States Coast Guard and the Philippines’ arrived in Manila Wednesday.

The United States Coast Guard National Security Cutter Bertholf, with its commanding officer Captain John Discroll, arrived at Pier 15 in Manila, following the capability training exercise conducted by both nations’ Coast Guard in the West Philippine Sea Tuesday.

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Source: news.mb.com.ph

PHL, Indonesian navies wrap up coordinated border patrol activities

The first leg of the Border Coordinated Patrol of the Philippine and Indonesian navies has ended, with the aim of securing the common border between the two countries and stop maritime and sea crimes including smuggling and piracy.

The patrol ships of both countries were expected to have reached their final point in the territorial waters of Indonesia along the Celebes Sea on Saturday.

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Source: gmanetwork.com

Philippines, Indonesia kick off coordinated border naval patrol

MANILA, May 2 (Xinhua) — The Philippines and Indonesia kicked off on Thursday their joint patrol in the Sulu-Celebes Seas, a move aimed at strengthening security cooperation to combat piracy, smuggling and maritime attacks in the region.

“The main mission is to secure the common border, to curtail maritime crimes, and stop various sea crimes like smuggling and piracy,” Ezra Balagtey, spokesman for the Eastern Mindanao Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, said in a statement.

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Source: xinhuanet.com

Duterte issues travel warning for Zamboanga

President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday urged tourists not to travel to Zamboanga for now as he raised the atrocities committed by the Abu Sayyaf against foreigners.

Duterte gave the statement at the 7th Union Asia Pacific Regional Conference in Pasay City which was attended by health experts in the region.

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Source: gmanetwork.com

Poachers avoid PH waters over kidnap fears – Coast Guard

By: Julie Alipala

ZAMBOANGA CITY—Kidnapping in the high seas, usually done by the bandit group Abu Sayyaf, has been scaring away poachers of rare and endangered species of turtles from Tawi-Tawi, an officer of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said.

Lt. Makaradat Uddin, PCG district commander in Tawi-Tawi, said poachers from Malaysia, Indonesia and other Asian countries had been veering away from the Tawi-Tawi islands, including the Turtle Islands, the natural nesting ground for green sea turtles.

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Source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Abu Sayyaf arms cache found by troops amid operations in Sulu

By Francis Wakefield

Soldiers pursuing Abu Sayyaf militants found an arms cache in Patikul, Sulu on Tuesday, March 26.

Troops from the 13th Special Forces Company also retrieved from the Abu Sayyaf’s arms cache a 60mm mortar, two M16 rifles, bandoliers with magazines, IED paraphernalia, flags with ISIS markings, a military map, a handheld radio, and a night vision monocular in Barangay Bakong, Patikul at about 11 a.m.

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Source: news.mb.com.ph

3 Abu Sayyaf killed in Sulu encounter — AFP

By: Frances Mangosing

MANILA, Philippines — Three members of the Abu Sayyaf Group were believed to be killed in an encounter with the Philippine Marines in Sulu, the military said Monday.

Troops from the Marine Battalion Landing Team-3 clashed with undetermined number of bandits under sub-leader Najir Arik in Simisa Island in Banguigui on Sunday, the Western Mindanao Command said.

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Source: newsinfo.inquirer.net