the U.S. 163rd Regiment, 41st Division (formerly the Montana National Guard) landed at Sanga Sanga and Bongao in the Sulu Archipelago, halfway between the island of Borneo and the Philippines. A week later, the other two battalions of the regiment left Mindanao and landed at Jolo, where they began fighting their way up heavily defended Mount Daho, the highest point on the island. The Sultan of Jolo, Muhammad Janail Abirin the 2nd, leader of the archipelago's 300,000 Moslems, welcomed Col. William J. Moroney, commander of the 163rd, and promised to help rid the island of Japanese. In three weeks of combat the 163rd suffered 37 dead and 191 wounded. Approximately 2,600 Japanese troops were killed, and only 87 Japanese soldiers were captured or surrendered in Jolo. Local fighters killed many Japanese stragglers hiding in the jungle after the Imperial Army surrendered in August, 1945. Fighting on the island flared up again 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. Fighting is still continuing today. On 27 January 2019 the Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Jolo was bombed. Kidnappings On 22 September 2015, Kjartan Sekkingstad, age 56, from Sotra, Norway, was abducted by Abu Sayyaf Islamist guerrillas from a high-end tourist resort on Samal Island, along with 2 Canadian men, John Ridsdel, age 68, and Robert Hall, age 67, and a Filipina woman, Marites Flor, Hall’s girlfriend. In April and June 2016, the Canadians were beheaded after ransoms were not paid, and in June 2016 Flor was released. On 17 September 2016, Sekkingstad was released on Jolo island, about 600 miles south of Manila, after Islamist captor Abu Sayyaf received $638,000 in ransom for his release. He was handed over to the rebel group Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). The MNLF is in peace talks with the government and had been working with authorities to secure his release. It is not known who has paid the ransom, but it is not Norwegian authorities. In popular culture In the American film Plane (2023), the plot involves a plane making an emergency landing on this island, with the survivors having to deal with local Muslim terrorists. See also List of active volcanoes in the Philippines List of potentially active volcanoes