This undated image grab taken on October 13, 2015 from a video uploaded on YouTube shows a group believed to be Abu Sayyaf gunmen in the southern Philippines.
ZAMBOANGA CITY: The number of Philippine troops running after the Abu Sayyaf in the southern island province of Sulu is expected to swell to about 9,000 by next week, the Armed Forces said on Thursday, amid taunts by the ruthless kidnap-for-ransom group that it was prepared for a “jihad.”
The deployment is the largest concentration of troops in a single area in recent memory, Armed Forces of the Philippines chief spokesperson Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla said.
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