ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Dec. 16, 2007) – Security forces killed an Abu Sayyaf militant in a clash in the remote southern Philippine province of Tawi-Tawi, officials said Sunday.
Officials said the fighting killed Abdul Sakandal late Saturday after troops raided his hideout.
Sakandal was implicated in kidnappings of foreigners in the southern Philippines, including an Abu Sayyaf raid on the Malaysian resort island of Sipadan in 2000 where 21 mostly Asian and Western holiday-makers had been taken.
Sakandal was hiding in Tawi-Tawi after he fled a massive military operation in Basilan island several years ago. He also sought refuge in Sulu province, but also escaped military operations there only to be tracked down in Tawi-Tawi.
It was not immediately known if soldiers took Sakandal’s body or if someone claimed the corpse, but the militant was originally included in the government’s most wanted list and had a P2 million bounty for his capture dead of alive.
A military report said informants helped troops tracked down Sakandal on a village in the province, where several Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiya militants had been previously killed in firefight.
The Abu Sayyaf is believed to be harboring Jemaah Islamiya militants Dulmatin and Umar Patek, both tagged by Jakarta as behind the 2002 Bali bombing that killed 202 people, including 88 Australian tourists.
Aside from the duo, Philippine authorities said there are more than two dozen Indonesian Jemaah Islamiya militants in the strife-torn, but mineral-rich region of Mindanao. (Mindanao Examiner)
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