As the Philippine military sent its biggest contingent in years to fulfill President Rodrigo Duterte’s orders to destroy the Abu Sayyaf, an inquiry will be made to look into the reason 15 soldiers perished in a battle against the terrorist group last Monday.

Lt. Gen Eduardo Ano, Army chief, said the 1st Infantry Battalion will be conducting the inquiry over the series of encounters with the Abu Sayyaf that started on August 26 to August 30.

“The objective is to find the reason which caused the casualties. That is automatic to us,” said Ano.

Ano explained most of the 15 soldiers were killed “during the first burst of fire”. “At that time, night is approaching. That makes troop movements difficult,”said Ano.

The military said 30 Abu Sayyaf have been killed during these encounters.

Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesman confirmed an additional battalion arrived in the province of Sulu last Wednesday.

“Yes, we confirm that the 63rd Infantry Battalion has arrived,” Padilla said. “This is part of the augmentation troops announced by the Palace,” he added.

Col. Edgard Arevalo, AFP Public Affairs Chief said “with the recent addition of another Army battalion, the number (of troops in Sulu) is between 6,500 to 7,000.”

"It could be considered the biggest deployment in Sulu in recent years following the directive of the commander in chief to eliminate the bandit Abu Sayyaf Group," he said.

Ano said the military is set to deploy three more battalions in Sulu.

“There are three more battalions scheduled to be deployed there. The flow of the operations is good, in fact before that encounter our Scout Ranger scored against the bandits,” he said. Robina Asido