Government security forces have been directed to run after the Abu Sayyaf group responsible for latest attack in Basilan that left 11 people dead, a Palace official said Sunday.

Deputy Presidential Spokesman Gary Olivar said concerned state agencies were also asked to extend the necessary assistance to the families affected in the assault by the bandit group.

Suspected members of the Abu Sayyaf reportedly stormed a village in Basilan last Saturday, killing 11 people. Most of the victims were reportedly asleep when the rebels attacked and set them on fire.

Olivar said the Western Mindanao Command has been placed on heightened alert in southwestern Mindanao, especially Basilan “to undertake measures to account for the perpetrators and at the same time extend assistance to affected families.”

He said the military troops would also keep their guard to prevent any similar attack, which he claimed could be a “diversionary effort and retaliation” following the deaths of several Abu Sayyaf members including Albader Parad, the man behind the kidnapping of Red Cross volunteers.

“We should not worry because the military has raised its preparations to protect the people from these attacks,” he said over government radio.

The military earlier said it expected remnants of the Abu Sayyaf group, notorious for kidnappings, bombings, and beheadings, to launch retaliatory attacks for Parad’s death. But police officials in Basilan claimed the attack may have been motivated by a personal grudge with the village chairman.