Attackers Kill 11 in Philippines

By CARLOS H. CONDE
Published: February 28, 2010

MANILA — Eleven people, at least three of them children, were killed in an attack believed to have been carried out by the militant group Abu Sayyaf in retaliation for the recent arrests and deaths of several of its members, officials said Sunday.

About 70 members of Abu Sayyaf strafed several houses early Saturday in the southern village of Tubigan, in Basilan Province, an island in Mindanao where the group got its start, the police said.

The 11 dead included a 1-year-old, and 17 others, including four children, were seriously wounded. The attackers also burned down several houses. The attack was among the worst against civilians in nearly a decade, officials said.

Lt. Steffani Cacho, an army spokeswoman, said the attack might have been a “retaliatory action” by Abu Sayyaf after several of its leaders and members were either killed or arrested in a series of military and police operations in the past two weeks.

She added, however, that it could also have been prompted by a clan feud, which is common in Mindanao, the main Muslim area in the south.

Bienvenido Latag, police chief of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, where Basilan is located, said the attackers had burned down the house of Leleng Laping, a chieftain of Tubigan village. Two of Mr. Laping’s children died in the fire.

Chief Latag said the victims had been asleep when their home was attacked.

Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner, a military spokesman, said the attack may have been a response to the killing last year of Albader Parad, the leader of Abu Sayyaf, and the arrest of others in recent weeks. One of those arrested was involved in the 2001 kidnapping and murder of dozens of tourists in a resort in Palawan, in the western Philippines, the police said.

Officials said that two Chinese citizens and a Filipino had been rescued from Abu Sayyaf in Basilan the day before the Saturday attack.

Abu Sayyaf is thought to have originated in Basilan. In 2002, as part of its campaign against terrorism, the United States sent hundreds of troops to help the Philippines vanquish the group. Although officials said the effort drastically cut Abu Sayyaf’s members from about 1,200 in 2002 to about 400 now, the group remains a threat in the province.