ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / August 16, 2008) – Police and military agents captured an alleged member of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group in the southern Philippine island of Basilan, several nautical miles off Zamboanga City, officials said on Saturday.
Officials said Aseng Sahidul was captured on Friday while driving a passenger jeep in Isabela City. A civilian informant also helped government agents identify the militant and that it took them two days to finally arrest Sahidul.
The military said Sahibul is facing a string of criminal charges from kidnappings to illegal detention and was believed to have operated along with Abu Sayyaf leaders Khadaffy Janjalani and Hamsiraji Salih. Both terror leaders were killed in separate clashes in the southern Philippines the past years.
Officials said Aseng Sahidul was captured on Friday while driving a passenger jeep in Isabela City. A civilian informant also helped government agents identify the militant and that it took them two days to finally arrest Sahidul.
The military said Sahibul is facing a string of criminal charges from kidnappings to illegal detention and was believed to have operated along with Abu Sayyaf leaders Khadaffy Janjalani and Hamsiraji Salih. Both terror leaders were killed in separate clashes in the southern Philippines the past years.
Washington, which is assisting the Philippine military in defeating the Abu Sayyaf, has offered as much as $5 million bounty for the capture of the group’s known leaders. It also blacklisted the Abu Sayyaf and tagged the militant group as a foreign terrorist organization.
A few hundred US soldiers are deployed in the southern Philippines to train and assist Filipino troops in fighting terrorism. (Mindanao Examiner)
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