Extremist Islam

On 17 April 2020, eleven soldiers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) were killed during a battle with 40 fighters of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) in Patikul town, in the Sulu region of Mindanao, southern Philippines. The ASG had apparently ambushed the troops during the latter's operations aimed at tracking down two senior ASG figures, Radullan Sahiron and Hatib Sawadjaan-the leader of the Philippine branch of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) global terror network. The firefight between the pro-ISIS ASG and the AFP forces was apparently the bloodiest in months. This encounter occurred in the midst of the worldwide novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic outbreak that had not spared the southern Philippines as well. A government spokesperson acknowledged the strain on the armed forces, who were on the forefront as the government's arm to prevent the spread of the dreaded disease on the one hand", while simultaneously engaged in "battling this terrorist Abu Sayyaf Group""--