PATIKUL, SULU - Amid heavy casualties, more government troops are arriving in Sulu. Not to be outdone, the Abu Sayyaf Group on Wednesday released a statement saying they are prepared for the soldiers.

With the arrival of the 63rd Infantry Battalion on Wednesday afternoon, the Armed Forces of the Philippines now has roughly 7,500 soldiers deployed across the province.

But the Abu Sayyaf warned the military to prepare because the terrorist group plans to launch attacks against them starting September 1.

Unlike previous days of fierce battles, there was no encounter recorded between the military and the Abu Sayyaf on Wednesday.

Silent guns, however, don't always mean the war is over.

Aerial reconnaissance teams took to the sky, searching for the Abu Sayyaf in their known lairs below.

On the ground, government troops scoured jungles looking for the enemy.

Brigadier Gen. Arnel dela Vega, commander of Joint Task Force Sulu, said it wasn't easy for his men to just carry on after losing 15 brothers-in-arms.

The fight must continue, he said.

The government also looks serious in throwing its full support to the troops fulfilling President Rodrigo Duterte's order to decimate the Abu Sayyaf.

But the Abu Sayyaf announced that on September 1, they will test the strength of those they call "soldiers of Duterte" and launch massive operations against the military.

Some 7,000 civilians have fled their homes, amid fear of what hostilities may come in the next few days.

On Wednesday morning, the body of an unknown woman was found by the side of the road at a barangay in Patikul, with her neck hacked.

The motive for her killing remains unknown. - with ANC