Manila: Nine people including four Philippine security officials were killed on Tuesday during clashes with the Abu Sayyaf kidnap group on a popular resort island as millions prepare to travel for the Easter holiday.
The incursion on Bohol island would be the first on a key Philippine tourist destination in recent years by the group which pledges allegiance to the IS and often targets foreigners in the lawless southern Mindanao region.
Five gunmen were killed while four assault rifles and an improvised explosive device were recovered in the fighting, officials said.
Just days earlier Australia and the US warned their citizens about possible “terrorist” kidnappings in Bohol or nearby Cebu island.
“We’re quite worried... we are afraid of hostage situations,” said Khent Guimalan, who works at the front desk of the upscale Bohol Beach Club.
“The mayor and police have tightened security. There’s a checkpoint everywhere,” Guimalan said by phone from the Panglao tourist area, where she said hotels were fully booked until next week.
Local officials said the militants had used fast boats on Monday to reach a village where they squared off against security forces early on Tuesday.
Security forces have been on alert for “potential activity on the part of some lawless elements” during the peak Easter tourist season, military spokesman Brigadier-General Restituto Padilla said.
“Our forces who were acting on this information were able to engage these lawless armed groups that are believed to be part of the Abu Sayyaf group from Mindanao,” he said on ABS-CBN television.
The armed men sailed upriver from Inabanga, a farming and fishing coastal community some 780 kilometres away from the Abu Sayyaf stronghold of Jolo in the southern Philippines, local police said.
Bohol, about 600 kilometres south of Manila, is a mere 30 minutes’ boat ride away from the major port of Cebu on Cebu island, which is also among the country’s top tourist draws.
The island is famous among foreign tourists who swim with docile whale sharks and marvel at tiny primates called tarsiers, go on cruises aboard boats on crystal-clear rivers and lounge on its beaches. The authorities said sporadic fighting continued at sundown. — AFP
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