MANILA: At least 11 Army battalions, including members of the elite Scout Rangers who fought the Daesh-linked terrorists in the Marawi City siege have boosted the intensified campaign against the Abu Sayyaf extremists on the island province of Sulu in Mindanao.

This was revealed by Brigadier Cirilito Sobejana, the Joint Task Group Sulu commander, who added they would pursue the extremists without a break even during the Christmas and New Year holidays.

“I now have 11 batttalions (including two Scout Ranger battalions from the Marawi siege),” Sobejano told defense reporters after attending a disaster and command briefing at the Armed Forces of the Philippines national headquarters in Metro Manila on Tuesday.

He also reported that government forces have been gaining ground in the campaign against the Abu Sayyaf who have pledged allegiance to the Daesh in the Middle East.

At least 17 Abu Sayyaf extremists who joined in the Marawi siege have been killed in the fighting to liberate the city that was achieved on Oct.17, or exactly five months after the terrorist attack on May 23.

According to Sobejano, the terrorists were likewise losing the support of the local communities, citing the encounter between fighters of the Moro National Liberation Front and the Abu Sayyaf in Sulu on Monday.

“They are becoming more desperate,” he said, “and they are now targeting the poorest of the poor in their kidnap-for-ransom activities.”