Word: basilan
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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There's a concrete wall behind the Torres Memorial Hospital in the dusty village of Lamitan on the southern Philippine island of Basilan. In the middle of it is a door, only 1.5-meters high. Seven months ago, roughly 60 members of the dreaded Abu Sayyaf kidnap gang led by chieftain Abu Sabaya were barricaded inside with about 20 hostages, including three Americans, definitively surrounded by the Philippine military. Their careers as terrorists seemed to be coming to a bloody conclusion. That is, until the early evening of June 2, in circumstances that are shadowy but undoubtedly scandalous, when...
...Americans have arrived to help. Special Forces personnel will soon begin patrolling Basilan island along with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). Carrying only side arms, they're there as observers to guide the AFP to victory. Col. Fridovich spoke with TIME last week at AFP Southern Command headquarters...
...Fridovich: We anticipate starting work with our counterparts by about the end of February, maybe a little bit earlier. We're only going to have about 160 advisers over on (Basilan). This is a training exercise, but we've got to face it a bit differently because this is the first time that the training has been done in a combat zone. There's no exclusions to it in terms of where we go and what we do, except that it's Philippine-led and we advise, consult and assist them as they require. There's some added risk because...
...conditions on Basilan conducive to tackling Abu Sayyaf...
...Speculation here is that if things go well against Abu Sayyaf in Basilan, the next target may be other members of the group in Jolo, or Moro Liberation Front guerrillas in Mindanao or even the communist New People's Army insurgents in Luzon...