Operations against Abu Sayyaf in Philippines kills 14 members of the Group

Manila, 28 APR (EFE).-at least 14 Abu Sayyaf members were killed in the operations the Army conducts in the southern Philippines against this group that publicly supported the Islamic State (EI), on Thursday informed military sources.

"The Western Mindanao command has received reports of civilians in the area (of fighting) who say that 14 Abu Sayyaf fighters were killed by the bombing," said the head of the Press Office of the armed forces, Colonel Noel Detoyato, according the Agency "Philippines News Agency".

The offensive against the Group on Jolo Island (South) began on April 23, two daysbefore the ultimatum given by the Abu Sayyaf to receive $ 19.2 million to free two Canadians and a Norwegian who kidnapped, along with a filipina, in September on the island of Samal, located 30 kilometers southeast of Davao, on Mindanao.

On 25 April, when it won the ultimatum, John Ridsel was beheaded on the island ofJolo and his head was found on the same day.

A headless body appeared on Wednesday in the southern island of Jolo and today arrived in Manila for a more complete analysis and determine their identity.

Abu Sayyaf still retains 24 foreigners, among them the Canadian Robert Hall and the Norwegian Kjartan Sekkingstad, captured in Samal; the Dutch Ewold Horn, kidnapped in 2012, and 14 Indonesian fishermen and four Malaysians kidnapped in recent weeks.

This terrorist group was created in 1991 by ex-combatants from the war in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union and he are assigned some of the bloodiest attacks occurred in the Philippines, as well as several kidnappings to finance.