Sayyaf commander killed in police clash in Southern Philippines

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Sept. 5, 2010) – Police commandos killed a sub-leader of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group in a clash early Sunday in the southern Philippine province of Sulu, officials said Sunday.

Officials said the fighting killed Gafur Jumdail in the remote village of Lapa in Maimbung town before dawn after commandos from the elite Special Action Force tracked down the terrorist and his group.

“Special Action Force commandos clashed with the Abu Sayyaf and killed Gafur Jumdail in the village of Lapa,” Senior Superintendent Joseph Ramac, the Sulu police chief, said by phone from his command post in the province.

Ramac said several more militants were believed wounded in the clash. He did not say whether there were casualties on the police side.

Jumdail is a brother of Abu Sayyaf leader Umbra Abu Jumdail alias Dr Abu, who was also linked to the June 8, 2008 kidnapping of television reporter Ces Drilon in Sulu.

Militants intercepted Drilon and her two cameramen Jimmy Encarnacion and Angelo Valderama, including their guide Professor Octavio Dinampo while pursuing an exclusive story about the Abu Sayyaf which authorities said has links also with the Indonesian militant group called Jemaah Islamiya.

Drilon works for the television giant ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation while Dinampo teaches Political Science at the Mindanao State University.

The Abu Sayyaf was also tagged as behind last year’s ambush of a police convoy, killing the provincial police commander, Senior Superintendent Julasirim Kasim and several others in the town of Maimbung. (Mindanao Examiner)