Cover image via static6.com
Security forces have been fortified in Tipo-Tipo, Basilan after uncovering an Abu Sayyaf Group's (ASG) plan to attack the town hall and raise an ISIS flag in the local government's compound, a police official said Saturday, in a report GMA News
Basilan Provincial Police Office director Senior Superintendent Oscar Nantes said the whole police force in Tipo-Tipo is on full alert.
Nantes said military personnel have bolstered the police's security around the municipal hall, where the ISIS flag will be raised.
**He said the information on the ASG's plan came six days ago.**
As the police received the information, the military started creating strategies and pounding known lairs of the ASG in Tipo-Tipo
The military said, they have been dropping bombs on ASG's lairs in Tipo-Tipo, with cannons fired from the Philippine Army's 64th and 18th Infantry Battalion.
Basilan Governor Jim Hataman said eight (8) barangays in the town of Tipo-Tipo, Albarka and Ungkaya Pukan have been affected by the miltary's offensive.
**The areas affected include Migcawa, Bohepiang, Sitio Layohan, Baguindan, Silangkim, Tipo-tipo proper, Sungkayut, and Bohesuyak.**
The Social Welfare and Development Office reported that as of Friday, a total of 1,312 families have been displaced due to the military offensive.
Earlier, Malacañang said that the government will continue to pursue the ASG despite President Rodrigo Duterte's announcement that he does not see the bandits as criminals
Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella clarified that Duterte was just providing a context for the ASG's actions.
**"Hindi po niya (Duterte) pinapalampas 'yung mga ginawa nila, pero nilalagay lang po niya in context 'yung mga, 'yung kanilang pinaggagawa, that they were forced to desperation," Abella said in an interview over state-run Radyo ng Bayan.**
