EXTREPaper BackT ISLAM RECOGNITION AND RESPONSE IN SOUTHEAST ASIA

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 latters operations aimed at tracking down two senior ASG figures Radullan Sahiron and Hatib Sawadjaanthe leader of the Philippine branch of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria ISIS global terror network. The firefight between the proISIS ASG and the AFP forces was apparently the bloodiest in months. This encounter occurred in the midst of the worldwide novel coronavirus COVID19 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 governments arm to prevent the spread of the dreaded disease on the one hand while simultaneously engaged in battling this terrorist Abu Sayyaf Group