Sayyaf Leader Killed In Zamboanga Clash

Above, a civilian vollunteer, armed with a shotgun patrols near the village where Amilhamja Ajijul is killed by soldiers. While a hospital staff shows reporters medical records of the slain Abu Sayyaf bomb-maker, and medics guard the Quinipot Hospital where his body is brought. (Zamboanga Journal)

A scene of Abu Sayyaf bombing in the southern Philippine port city of Zamboanga in August 2005. Security officials say that a key Abu Sayyaf leader Amilhamja Ajijul, who is also known as Alex Alvarez, blamed for the series of bomb attacks and killing of a US soldier in Zamboanga City in 2002, is killed along with a follower, and 4 others arrested after a fierce gun battle Tuesday 11 April 2006. (Zamboanga Journal)

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Zamboanga Journal / 11 Apr) Troops killed a leader of the Abu Sayyaf group tied to al-Qaeda terror network in a firefight before sunrise Tuesday at hideout in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines, officials said.

Officials said Amilhamja Ajijul, who was also known as Alex Kahal and Alex Alvarez, and one of his follower were killed in the gun fight after soldiers raided an Abu Sayyaf hideout in the remote Curuan district, about 48 km northeast of Zamboanga City.

Ajijul, who headed the Abu Sayyaf's urban terrorist group, was blamed in the killing of a US soldier participating in a joint military drill in a bomb attack on a roadside eatery in Malagutay village in Zamboanga City in 2002, and the bombings of Shop-O-Rama and Shopper's Central department stores here that left dozens of civilians dead and wounded.

Four other men were also arrested by the raiders and being investigated, said Army Colonel Edgardo Gidaya, commander of a military anti-terror task force. "His killing may have prevented a planned Abu Sayyaf attack on civilian targets in Zamboanga City this Holy Week," Gidaya told the Zamboanga Journal.

His group was also implicated in the twin bombings in downtown Zamboanga City last year that injured 26 people. The military also implicated Ajijul in the kidnapping of US citizen Jeffrey Craig Schilling in Jolo island and dozens of Filipinos in Basilan in 2000.

Southern Command chief Major General Gabriel Habacon said the operation against the Abu Sayyaf will continue "without let-up" until the terrorist group is neutralized. "Our operation against terrorism will continue and we will not stop until terrorists are neutralized," he said.

Last year, the military said Ajijul was captured after a firefight with soldiers in Zamboanga City, but later retracted their statement, saying, the man was not Amilhamja Ajijul.

Gidaya said they recovered assorted weapons from the hideout and were still searching for explosives that maybe hidden in the area. He said a civilian informant led troops to Ajijul's hideout around 3 a.m.

"There is an ongoing operation and we are searching for more Abu Sayyaf weapons and explosives. There is an intelligence report that the Abu Sayyaf may strike during the Lent," he said.

At least 9 people were killed and more than two dozens wounded when a suspected Abu Sayyaf bomb exploded inside a two-storey convenience store in Jolo island on March 27.

Two days later, a man claiming to be a spokesman for the Abu Sayyaf group sent cell phone text messages to a local radio station RGMA and warned of impending attacks in Zamboanga City and Basilan island. "The next bombings will be in Zamboanga City and Basilan," said spokesman Abu Omar.

The Abu Sayyaf is on a US list of terrorist organizations and Washington has offered as much as $10 million bounty for the capture of the group's chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani and other known leaders.