Philippines Jihad Update: Note the casualty numbers -- these are not the smaller, more routine skirmishes with jihadists. "Philippines: Troops clash with Islamist militants in south," from Adnkronos International, December 8:
Zamboanga, 8 Dec. (AKI) - Security forces were fighting Islamist militants on two fronts in the southern Philippines on Monday, after 24 soldiers were killed and 16 others were wounded in conflict at the weekend. Soldiers fought battled militants from the separatist Abu Sayyaf where the government forces is trying to defeat the group blamed for a spate of deadly attacks that have left hundreds of people dead in the past 20 years.
Lt. Steffani Cacho, a spokesperson for the Philippines Western Mindanao Command headquarters, said conflict erupted early on Sunday between marines and militants in the town of Talipao in Sulu province.
An hour later, hostilities also broke out in the nearby province of Basilan.
Cacho said five soldiers were killed and 25 others were wounded in fighting in the town of Al-Barka in Basilan, where 14 soldiers had been beheaded early this year.
The injured included an air force pilot whose OV-10 light bomber was hit but a co-pilot managed to land it safely in nearby Zamboanga city, she said.
Fighting also was reported on nearby Jolo island, where an additional 11 troops were wounded, she said.
The Abu Sayyaf is one of several groups of Islamist militants based in the south of the country and is demanding the creation of an autonomous Muslim region.
Believed to be linked to Al-Qaeda, it has carried out a string of high-profile kidnappings and attacks, including the 2004 firebombing of a ferry in Manila Bay that killed more than 100 people.
These casualties are truly bizarre, appropriate for an all out war.
Notice the beheading of 14 soldiers. This is a grave war crime, not just an attack of a couple 'misguided' jihadists.
We need to sound an alarm and bring attention to the war in the Philippines - it is on par with Iraq!
These people need to be taught a lesson.
Unfortunately the demographics that make up the numerous islands of the Philippines along with areas where the forests are almost impenetrable make it difficult for this democratic country to successfully act against these jihadist groups which are more concentrated in Western Mindanao. No doubt many of the jihadists make there way into these islands from Indonesia as well as other Islamic enclaves. The Philippines have been battling these groups for over 30 years, and over 100,000 have died over that period of time. Don't think we would see such a problem like this; say in Montana though some Islamists did try to set up a camp for jihad training in Southeastern Oregon not to far from Klamath Falls, Oregon. I would not be surprised if there are some jihadist camps already in America that haven't been discovered as of yet.
Just keep hammering, Filipinos.
The jihadis won't stop if they get an 'autonomous region'. That's just a stepping stone for them. With Islam, it's 'today Mindanao, tomorrow..Manila'.
They'll make agreements, they will..on toilet paper, in disappearing ink.
They'll keep right on kidnapping, holding to ransom, killing, blowing people up, and they will go right on attacking and persecuting and killing Christians and attacking churches and burning and robbing villages, in those regions where they already feel powerful enough to do so.
So: don't give them ANYTHING, except battle.
And the general Muslim population are the sea in which the jihadis swim, and from which they emerge - because they all listen to the same book and say the same prayers that curse Christians.
Evict them into Malaysia or Indonesia. The Thing inside their heads, the Arab supremacist ideology of Islam, means that they can't and won't live permanently as equals with non-Muslims in a pluralist democracy with freedom of religion - the more they go on Hajj, the more they try to become 'proper' Muslims, the more they will push, push, push, by fraud or by force, by stealth or by outright acts of violent jihad, for total domination, for temporal power over their non-Muslim neighbours, for the Islamification of the entire Philippines archipelago and its subjection to the misery that is sharia.
So the Muslims of Mindanao and neighbouring smaller islands have forfeited the right to reside in a pluralist democracy. If they won't apostasise...out they should go.
Otherwise, there is a very real chance that over time they will destroy the Philippines.
Islam is boring and barbaric. Catholic Malayo-Spanish-Polynesian-Americophile Filipino kafir culture is much, much more interesting and beautiful; Filipinos, you have something special - defend it!
What happened to the agreement they had?
dumbledoresarmy love the way u post
MorrisMinor
Agreement was on toilet paper, in disappearing ink. As MO the pig has said agreements to be made when you are weak to strike later when u become strong.
"The Abu Sayyaf is one of several groups of Islamist militants based in the south of the country and is demanding the creation of an autonomous Muslim region."
Hey, all they want is some Lebensraum, what's wrong with that??