Philippine troops killed a suspected Egyptian would-be suicide bomber and two local Abu Sayyaf militants in what military officials said Saturday was a setback that would make it harder for gunmen linked to the Islamic State group to stage suicide attacks.Army troops gunned down the three militants in a 10-minute firefight Friday night near a hinterland village off the mountainous Patikul town in southern Sulu province. They also recovered three assault rifles and bandoliers of ammunition, army brigade commander Col. Benjamin Batara Jr. said.Military officials did not indicate how the three were tracked down but military chief Gen. Cirilito Sobejana suggested that troops were helped by intelligence provided by villagers. “The support of the public in our peace and security operations is much, much needed,” Sobejana told The Associated Press.The Egyptian, who was identified by the military only as Yusop, was the son of an Egyptian militant Reda Mohammad Mahmud who used the nom de guerre Siti Aisyah and was killed when she detonated a bomb and was shot by troops two years ago at the gate of an army detachment in Sulu’s Indanan town. His Egyptian stepfather was killed in a gunbattle with troops at a military checkpoint in Indanan, also in 2019, the military said.”This is one less suicide bomber,” army Maj. Gen. William Gonzales said. “Without them, the possibility of another attack is slimmer.”Gonzales said without elaborating that the killing of the Egyptian would cut off foreign financial support to the Abu Sayyaf. The small but violent group has long been blacklisted by the United States and the Philippines for ransom kidnappings, beheadings of hostages and deadly bombing attacks.Aside from Yusop, troops also killed suspected bomb maker Abu Khattab Jundullah and another still-unidentified militant.They belonged to an Abu Sayyaf faction led by Mudzrimar Sawadjaan, who has been blamed for a series of suicide attacks, including the January 2019 bombings by an Indonesian militant couple of a Roman Catholic cathedral in Jolo town in Sulu that killed 20 people and wounded more than 100 others, Batara said.Gonzales said troops were hunting down the remaining militants and expressed optimism that Sawadjaan, one of the most wanted Abu Sayyaf commanders, “will soon meet his end.”Military intelligence indicates there may be four remaining foreign militants with the Abu Sayyaf group in Sulu, a poverty-wracked Muslim province, including an Egyptian and two Indonesians, the military’s Western Mindanao Command said.Abu Sayyaf, one of a handful of small but violent militant groups aligned with the Islamic State group, has been considerably weakened by battle setbacks, surrenders and factionalism but remains a national security threat.From hundreds of armed fighters in the 1990s, only about 60 to 70 Abu Sayyaf combatants remain in Sulu and outlying island provinces. Since January, about 60 Abu Sayyaf militants have surrendered, seven captured and three killed in military offensives in Sulu, where thousands of troops have been deployed in recent years, military officials said.Despite considerable setbacks, desperate Abu Sayyaf militants “could be looking to take new hostages, simply out of financial straits,” according to the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict, which assesses insurgencies and other violent conflicts in the region. The Jakarta-based think tank said a likely target are Indonesian-crewed Malaysian fishing vessels plying across the Sulu Sea’s richest fishing areas “where Abu Sayyaf group kidnappers lie in wait.”
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Issues in the News moderator Kim Lewis talks with VOA diplomatic correspondent Cindy Saine and VOA executive editor Steve Redisch about the pros and cons of U. S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, concern over the build-up of Russian troops on the Ukrainian border, challenges facing President Biden’s infrastructure plan, continued tension in Minneapolis over the police killing of another African American man as the defense in the Chauvin trial wraps up and more.
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On this edition of Encounter, Ari Davis, Senior Policy Analyst at The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence and Nurrah Abdulhaqq, youth leader in the Georgia Chapter of “March for Our Lives” tell host Carol Castiel that despite the surge in gun violence in America, whether mass shootings, homicides or suicides, they are cautiously optimistic that a growing movement for a multi-pronged approach to combating violence, including US President Joe Biden’s recent executive orders, bode well for progress.PROGRAM NOTE: This program was recorded before the FedEx mass killings in Indianapolis 
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U.S. President Joe Biden says he and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga are committed to working together to counter challenges from China and North Korea, following Biden’s first White House summit since taking office. Biden told reporters after meeting with Suga during the one-day summit Friday that they affirmed their “ironclad support for the U.S.-Japanese alliance” and said they would work together to “take on the challenges from China and on issues like the East China Sea, the South China Sea, as well as North Korea.” The U.S. president called the discussions “very productive” and said the United States and Japan also agreed to work together to support global COVID-19 vaccination efforts as well as to promote new technological developments, including 5G networks, artificial intelligence, and quantum computing. Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and U.S. President Joe Biden hold a joint news conference in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, April 16, 2021.In a response to a reporter’s question, Suga said the two leaders had discussed Taiwan and said they reaffirmed the importance of “peace and stability” in the Taiwan Strait. He said he would not give further details on the Taiwan discussion. Suga said that he told Biden that he was committed to moving forward with the summer Olympic Games in Japan despite the coronavirus pandemic. Suga said that Biden offered his support. Suga was the first foreign leader to hold face-to-face talks with Biden since the U.S. president assumed office in January. Before the talks began Friday, Biden told reporters at the White House that he was “really pleased to welcome such a close ally, and good partner.”  Report: Japan’s PM to Visit India, Philippines to Strengthen Regional TiesYoshihide Suga’s trip would come after his White House visit, which also hinged on strengthening an alliance in the face of China’s growing influence across Indo-Pacific region Suga said he was grateful for the meeting and reaffirmed the “new and tight bond” between Japan and the United States.  Since Biden took office, he has focused on reviving the alliance with Japan, as well as U.S. involvement in multilateral institutions, which were often criticized or shunned by former President Donald Trump.The meeting underscored the importance of that alliance, particularly as their common rival, China, grows in strength and aggressiveness.   “We have to shore up American competitiveness to meet the stiff competition we’re facing from an increasingly assertive China,” Biden said earlier this week as he explained his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan.   Japan recently joined the U.S. and other democratic nations in calling out Beijing’s human rights abuses and incursions into disputed areas of the East and South China seas, seen as a departure from a longstanding trade and economics-centered approach. China is Japan’s largest trading partner. Sheila Smith, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, told VOA that the United States and Japan want to present a united front on China, but “both governments understand that this is a delicate moment in the relationship with China. They don’t want to incite or provoke activities that they don’t desire.”  Japan’s ambassador to the U.S., Koji Tomita, told VOA this week that Japan is “very encouraged” by Biden’s active engagement in the Indo-Pacific region, citing last month’s virtual Quad Summit, in which Biden hosted the leaders of Japan, Australia and India.   Japan Ambassador Lays Out US Summit Priorities Koji Tomita notes similar backgrounds of US and Japanese leaders, predicting warm personal relationship “The international order is being challenged in various ways, so we hope to continue having specific discussions on the ways that Japan and the U.S. can take initiative in realizing our shared vision,” he added.   Before Suga’s meeting with Biden, China’s Foreign Affairs Ministry warned Japan against “being misled by some countries holding biased views against China.”   Earlier this month, China also sent a naval strike group near Okinawa, where the U.S. has troops, a signal Beijing is prepared to counter the U.S.-Japan alliance.   Japan hosts approximately 55,000 U.S. troops. The two sides routinely describe their alliance as the “cornerstone” of peace and stability in Asia.  VOA’s Patsy Widakuswara  contributed to this report.
 
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