February22, 2007:
In the south, NPA rebels attacked army engineers, leaving one
soldier dead and three wounded. Elsewhere, police arrested to NPA members, who
had been running an extortion racket against candidates in upcoming elections
("pay us, and we won't shoot up your rallies and kill your workers.")
February
21, 2007: On Jolo island, six months of intense operations (with about 8,000
troops) against the last large group (about 400 people) of Abu Sayyaf Islamic
terrorists, has resulted in at least 70 dead terrorists, including two senior
leaders, plus at least fifteen captured. Jolo island has always been the main
base of Abu Sayyaf, and the home island of many of the groups members. Several
hundred American troops have also been involved, mainly to operation
intelligence gathering equipment (tapping radio and cell phone communications.)
Filipino casualties have so far been 30 dead and 90 wounded.
February
20, 2007: UN investigators accuse the military of being responsible for
the deaths of 830 people, killed by death squads, in the last six years. A
government investigation found that military commanders did not order the
attacks, but tolerated them. Most of the dead were leftist supporters of the
communist NPA rebels. The NPA has a long history with death squads, as they
have been using them for decades. The NPA also has a history of internal
purges, which have left hundreds of members killed after being suspected of
disloyalty. It was with great difficulty that the NPA was officially declared
an international terrorist organization recently. For decades, the NPA
were just considered well-meaning leftist rebels, and had many allies in
Europe, and even in the UN bureaucracy. The UN investigators say they have no
hard proof because witnesses are intimidated.
A
counter-terrorism law was passed, the first one for the Philippines. It makes
it easier to hold suspects, and imposes harsher punishments for terrorist
acts.
February
18, 2007: American diplomats have asked Moslem separatist organization MILF to
help find Abu Sayyaf rebels on Jolo island. This was done in cooperation with
U.S. counter-terrorism efforts, and the use of a few hundred American Special
Forces troops in the Philippines (to assist Filipino troops.)
February
16, 2007: In the south, police clashed with NPA rebels, leaving two policemen
and two rebels dead.
