| Battle of Danag | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Moro conflict | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Abu Sayyaf | |||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Cirilito Sobejana | Radullan Sahiron Hajan Sawadjaan | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| Unknown | 40 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 12 killed 13 injured | Unknown | ||||||
On April 17, 2020, militants from Abu Sayyaf ambushed Philippine forces in the jungles near the village of Danag, Patikul, Sulu, Philippines. Twelve Philippine soldiers were killed, and thirteen were injured.
Abu Sayyaf is a Filipino jihadist militia and an affiliate of the Islamic State based in Muslim-majority areas in the southern Philippines, including the island of Sulu. [1] Prior to the attack, Abu Sayyaf attacked Philippine forces on March 15 in Basilan, killing one and injuring two others. [2]
At the time of the attack, the 21st Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army had been preparing for an assault against Abu Sayyaf militants in the jungly mountains near the village of Danag when they came upon a group of forty militants. [1] The encounter occurred at 3:05pm at Sitio Lubong, and clashes broke out immediately between the militants and the soldiers. [3] A military report confirmed that Abu Sayyaf leader Radullan Sahiron and Hajan Sawadjaan were among those present in the militant's group. [3] The fighting lasted for an hour, and the Abu Sayyaf militants withdrew. [3] [1]
Blood at the scene confirmed the deaths and injuries of an unknown number of militants, according to Lieutenant General Cirilito Sobejana. [1] Eleven Philippine soldiers were initially killed, and fourteen were injured. One soldier died of his injuries shortly after the battle, raising the toll to twelve killed. [4] [5] Philippine forces lost several weapons. [3]
The Philippine Army dispatched reinforcements from the 11th Infantry Division, 5th Scout Ranger Battalion, 6th Special Forces Battalion, and 32nd Infantry Battalion to the site, and the army began combing operations around the site of the battle. [3] The Philippine government announced that the flag would be flown at half-mast in response, and Chief of Staff Felimon Santos Jr. hailed the fallen soldiers as heroes. [3]
Abu Sayyaf, officially known by the Islamic State as the Islamic State – East Asia Province, is a Jihadist militant and pirate group that followed the Wahhabi doctrine of Sunni Islam. It is based in and around Jolo and Basilan islands in the southwestern part of the Philippines, where for more than five decades, Moro groups had been engaged in an insurgency seeking to make Moro Province independent. The group is considered violent and is responsible for the Philippines' worst terrorist attack, the bombing of MV Superferry 14 in 2004, which killed 116 people. The name of the group was derived from Arabic abu, and sayyaf. As of April 2023, the group was estimated to have about 20 members, down from 1,250 in 2000. They use mostly improvised explosive devices, mortars and automatic rifles.
Operation Enduring Freedom – Philippines (OEF-P) or Operation Freedom Eagle was part of Operation Enduring Freedom and the global War on Terror. The Operation targeted the various Jihadist terror groups operating in the country. By 2009, about 600 U.S. military personnel were advising and assisting the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in the Southern Philippines. In addition, by 2014, the CIA had sent its elite paramilitary officers from their Special Activities Division to hunt down and kill or capture key terrorist leaders. This group had the most success in combating and capturing Al-Qaeda leaders and the leaders of associated groups like Abu Sayyaf.
Jolo is a volcanic island in the southwest Philippines and the primary island of the province of Sulu, on which the capital of the same name is situated. It is located in the Sulu Archipelago, between Borneo and Mindanao, and has a population of approximately 500,000 people.
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Radullan Sahiron is a Filipino Islamic militant who is the leader of Abu Sayyaf. He is said to have taken command of the organization following the death of Khadaffy Janjalani in September 2006.
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Battle of Basilan was a military offensive launched by the Philippine military to apprehend two lead commanders in the Abu Sayyaf Islamic militia wanted for corruption, money laundering, and terrorism related charges. The main cause of the operation was Sayyaf leader Indama and his followers threatening and attempting to extort money from a circumferential road network. The two-day offensive ended with both suspects evading capture and the island of Basilan falling under government authority. Both the army and MNLF collaborated in fighting alongside for a duration of the operation the first such instance since a truce. However collaborators within the Sayyaf militia included members of the MNLF who sympathized with their cause or had public relations with some of the militants.
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Dawlah Islamiya, also called Islamic State of Lanao and formerly named as the Maute Group, is a radical Islamist group composed of former Moro Islamic Liberation Front guerrillas and foreign fighters. Based in Lanao del Sur, it was founded by brothers Abdullah and Omar Maute. The organization, which also conducted a protection racket operation in the municipality of Butig, clashes on several occasions with the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the most significant of which began in May 2017 and culminated in the siege of Marawi.
The 2017 Bohol clashes were armed conflicts that took place in April and May 2017 between Philippine security forces and Moro ISIL-affiliated militants led by members of the Abu Sayyaf in Inabanga, Bohol, Philippines. Three Philippine Army soldiers, a policeman, four terrorists and two civilians were killed during the initial firefight. Subsequent firefights between the remaining militants and security forces resulted in the deaths of all the Abu Sayyaf insurgents. A ranking officer of the Philippine National Police linked to Abu Sayyaf attempted to rescue some of the insurgents but was arrested.
The Summer 2016Sulu and Basilan clashes were armed conflicts that took place in two battlefronts on the southern islands of Mindanao, Philippines from 21 June to 12 July.
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This is a chronology of the Moro conflict, an ongoing armed conflict in the southern Philippines between jihadist groups such as the Abu Sayyaf Group, the Maute Group, Jemaah Islamiyah, and Islamic State affiliates, mainstream separatist groups such as the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), and the Philippine Government since 1971. Much of the fighting has been concentrated on the island of Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago, with spillover incidents and attacks occurring in the Philippine capital Manila and neighboring countries such as Malaysia.
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The 2019 Indanan bombings occurred on 28 June 2019, when two suicide bombers detonated their explosives in two areas of a military camp in Indanan, Sulu, Philippines killing three soldiers and three civilians. The Philippine military confirmed it was two suicide bombers that caused the attack. They also believed that the attack was conducted in a similar manner to an attack on a cathedral in Jolo in January 2019. The military also blames the Abu Sayyaf for the earlier attack.
The 2020 Jolo bombings occurred on August 24, 2020, when insurgents alleged to be jihadists from the Abu Sayyaf group detonated two bombs in Jolo, Sulu, Philippines, killing 14 people and wounding 75 others. The first occurred as Philippine Army personnel were assisting in carrying out COVID-19 humanitarian efforts. The second, a suicide bombing, was carried out near the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cathedral.
