Photographs from the Island of Jolo

April 16, 2007 | Pulitzer Center

The Jolo Internal Defense Force patrolling in downtown Jolo.

These forces are composed of local ex-Moro National Liberation Front who joined the Armed Forces of the Philippines in 1997.

The AFP (Armed Forces of the Phillipines) is now fighting two factions of the Moro National Liberation Front on Jolo about 10 kilometers from the city. They have more than 5000troops on this 345-square mile island.

A Philippine marine lying in a hammock at Camp Jabal-Uhot in Panamao, Jolo. This area was controlled by renegade MNLF leader Haber Malik who initiated an attack on an army detachment on April 13. The local army says Malik has teemed with the al-Qaeda linked Abu Sayyaf.

The marines took control of this camp on April 16, 2007.

An evacuation center for civilians displaced by the fighting in Jolo. More than 8,000 people are sleeping in the Panglima Mammah Elementary School with very little food.

Jolo is a volcanic island in the southwest Philippines. It has a population of approximately 300,000 people. Jolo is also the name of the town on the island which serves as the capital of the province of Sulu. About a third of the island's population live in the municipality of Jolo. Fighting on the island intensified in February 2005 when between 4,000 and 5,000 Philippine troops clashed with around 800 Islamist militants from the Abu Sayyaf group, along with followers of Nur Misuari. Up to 12,000 people were thought to have fled the fighting. (Source: wikipedia)