Informant Gets P10 Million Reward

A military informant helps Major General Nelson Allaga, left, commander of the Western Mindanao Command, as he puts the reward money into a bag. (Mindanao Examiner/WMC Photo)

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Dec. 24, 2007) – The Philippine military rewarded ten million pesos to a Muslim villager who provided troops with information that led to the killing of a top Abu Sayyaf leader.

Major General Nelson Allaga, commander of the Western Mindanao Command, handed the reward Sunday to the man, whose face and body were covered to hide his identity, in Zamboanga City.

The man was said to be behind the killing of Khadaffy Janjalani last year.

“He pointed the exact location of Janjalani and the group that led to a firefight with the elements of 3rd Marine Brigade of the Philippine Marine Corps under Joint Task Force “Comet”, in Sulu on September 4, 2006,” Allaga said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.

“The informant received the money for providing vital information about the ASG over-all leader to the Armed Forces of the Philippines resulting to the successful combat operation and neutralization of Khadaffy Janjalani,” he said.

Allaga said the reward is designed to encourage people to provide timely and essential information that could help law enforcers and authorities to locate terrorists and thwart attacks. (Mindanao Examiner)

Abu Sayyaf Chieftain Death Important In Anti-Terror Campaign, Says U.S.

MANILA (Mindanao Examiner / 2o Jan) – The United States on Saturday said the death of a top Abu Sayyaf leader in the southern Philippines was an important and positive step forward in the ultimate goal of eliminating the terror group and destroying its links with international terrorists.

Filipino and American forensic experts have identified the remains of Khadaffy Janjalani, leader of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group, who was killed in fighting in the southern Philippine island of Jolo in September.

Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro said DNA tests confirmed that the body dug up last month by soldiers belonged to Janjalani. The remains were exhumed late December after two former Abu Sayyaf militants who surrendered to the military led troops to a shallow grave in the jungle village of Kabuntakas in Patikul town.

“The DNA tests are done and it confirmed that the body was that of Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani,” Bacarro told the Mindanao Examiner by phone from Manila.

The military previously said the Filipino and U.S. forensic experts from the Federal Bureau of Investigation were conducting DNA testing on tissue samples of Janjalani and his jailed brother Hector Janjalani.

"The death of Khaddafy Janjalani is an important and positive step forward in the ultimate goal of eliminating the ruthless and dangerous Abu Sayyaf Group, and in destroying its links with international terrorist groups such as the Jemaah Islamiya."

"The U.S. will continue to work with partners in the Philippines' military, law enforcement, and national and local governments to bring terrorists to justice and to build peace and prosperity in Mindanao and throughout the Philippines," said a U.S. Embassy statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner on Saturday.

"The United States congratulates the Government of the Philippines on confirmation that the leader of the terrorist organization Abu Sayyaf Group, Khaddafy Janjalani, has been killed," it said.

"Remains found on the island of Jolo in Sulu province in December 2006 have been proven by forensic and DNA tests conducted in the Philippines and the United States to be those of the terrorist leader. This is a major step forward in the fight against terrorism in the Philippines and in the global war on terror."

Washington offered rewards up to $5 million for information leading to the capture or killing of Janjalani, who was implicated in the kidnappings and killings of two U.S. citizens in Mindanao. (Mindanao Examiner)

RP Military Confirms Sayyaf Chieftain Is Dead, Cites DNA Test Results

The body of Abu Sayyaf leader Jainal Antel Sali, Jr. alias Abu Solaiman in Jolo island. The Philippine military on Saturday, Jan. 20, 2007 announced DNA test results on body dug up by troops in Jolo island last month belong to Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani, who was killed in a clash in September. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 20 Jan) – Forensic experts have identified the remains of a man said to be the leader of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group who was killed in fighting in the southern Philippine island of Jolo, a Philippine military spokesman said Saturday.

Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro said DNA tests confirmed that the body dug up last month by soldiers belonged to Khadaffy Janjalani.

The remains were exhumed late December after two former Abu Sayyaf militants who surrendered to the military led troops to a shallow grave in the hinterlands village of Kabuntakas in Patikul town where the body was buried.

The military said Janjalani was killed in a clash in September.

“The DNA tests are done and it confirmed that the body was that of Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani,” Bacarro told the Mindanao Examiner by phone from Manila.

The military previously said the Filipino and U.S. forensic experts from the Federal Bureau of Investigation were conducting DNA testing on tissue samples of Janjalani and his jailed brother Hector Janjalani.

Janjalani took over command of the Abu Sayyaf when his brother, Abubakar Abdurajak Janjalani, who founded the group, was killed in a firefight with policemen in 1998 in Basilan Island.

“The death of Janjalani really is a big blow to the Abu Sayyaf. And the recent killings of Abu Sayyaf leaders Binang Sali and Jainal Antel Sali, Jr. broke the Abu Sayyaf backbone and troops are pursuing the other leaders of the group in Jolo.”

“We will not stop until all terrorists are eradicated. The killings of Janjalani, Binang and Jainal are the results of our non-stop operation against terrorism. This is victory in the fight against international terrorism,” Lt. Gen. Eugenio Cedo, commander of military forces in the southern Philippines, told the Mindanao Examiner in Zamboanga City.

He said troops were still hunting Janjalani’s other lieutenants Radulan Sahiron and Isnilon Hapilon and two Jemaah Islamiyah militants Umar Patek and Dulmatin, whom Abu Sayyaf gunmen are believed to be protecting on Jolo, about 950 kms south of Manila. Both Patek and Dulmatin are wanted for the October 2002 bombings in the resort Indonesian island of Bali in which 202 mostly foreign tourists were killed.

At least 10 Abu Sayyaf militants and 3 soldiers were killed in fierce fighting Thursday in Jolo’s Patikul town. Officials said two Abu Sayyaf gunmen were also captured by soldiers in the hinterland village of Timpook in Patikul.

The military on Wednesday sent more troops to the troubled island to help hundreds of soldiers fighting the Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiya militants.

Security officials previously said that as many as six Indonesian militants are hiding in Jolo.

On Tuesday, Filipino troops, guided by U.S. military intelligence, raided an Abu Sayyaf hideout on Bud Dajo (also called Mount Daho) in Jolo’s Talipao town, south of Patikul, and killed a senior militant leader, Jainal Antel Sali, Jr. alias Abu Solaiman.

Binang Sali, leader of an Abu Sayyaf unit called Urban Terrorist Group, was also killed in a separate clash with troops.

The latest fighting came ahead of a planned visit in Jolo of U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice before the start of new joint RP-US anti-terror exercises next month on the island.

But government sources said Rice would instead send her deputy Karen Hughes, accompanied by top U.S. military and government officials to inspect American troops stationed on Jolo and helping Philippine military defeat the Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiya.

The Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiya are both in the U.S. list of international terrorist organizations, blamed for the kidnappings of foreigners and spate of bombings in the Philippines and Indonesia. (Mindanao Examiner)

The Abu Sayyaf And Khadaffy Janjalani

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RP Soldiers Dig Body Of Top Terror Leader Killed In Jolo Island

MANILA (Mindanao Examienr / 27 Dec) - Philippine soldiers dug up a decomposing body believed to be that of a top terror leader linked to al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiya who was killed in fighting in the southern island of Jolo, officials said.

Officials said body of Khadaffy Janjalani, leader of the Abu Sayyaf group, was exhumed Wednesday from a shallow grave. A civilian informant led troops at the gravesite in the hinterlands of Kabontakas village in Patikul town, said Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro, a spokesman for the Armed Forces of the Philippine said.

"We cannot confirm whether it was really Janjalani or not, except for the words of the informant. We have ordered DNA testing to confirm if the body really belongs to Janjalani," he told the Mindanao Examiner.

Bacarro said U.S. and Philippine authorities were conducting the DNA test.

Janjalani was believed killed in September in clashes with soldiers.(Mindanao Examiner)

Sayyaf Tagged As Behind Jolo Bombing

Scenes on Jolo island on Monday 17 Oct 2006, a day after suspected Abu Sayyaf militants detonated a powerful homemade bomb inside the provincial police headquarters and wounding three people. (Mindanao Examiner/Juan Magtanggol)

JOLO ISLAND (Juan Magtanggol / 17 Oct) – The Philippine military on Monday tagged the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group as behind the weekend bombing in Jolo island that wounded three people.

“The urban terrorist group of the Abu Sayyaf operating in Jolo could be behind the latest bombing,” said Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro, a military spokesman.

He said a motorcycle taxi laden with explosives was detonated near a small hotel called Peace Keeper’s Inn and a military hospital at around 7.10 p.m.

"An explosion occurred at Peace Keeper's Inn and three people are wounded in the blast. Initial investigation disclosed that an IED (improvised explosive device) was placed inside a plastic bag and left at an unattended tricycle parked in the area," Bacarro said.

The hotel is located inside the provincial police headquarters in the village of Asturias in downtown Jolo. The deputy governor of Jolo island, Lady Ann Sahidula, said there were no reports of casualties. "There was a blast near the hotel's beauty parlor.

Authorities are still investigating the motive of the blast," she said in a separate interview.The Abu Sayyaf was also tagged as behind the bombing in March of a Church-run cooperative store that left nine people dead and 20 injured in downtown Jolo.

Philippine Army Maj. Gen. Eugenio Cedo, commander of the Western Mindanao Command, on Monday inspected the bomb site and spoke to his commanders, ordering them to intensify the hunt for the Abu Sayyaf and the two JI bombers.

He also spoke to soldiers in the towns of Indanan and Patikul, urging them to get Dulmatin and Patek and Janjalani dead or alive.“Don’t give them any chance. Hit them hard and finish them off,” he said.

Troops on Sunday also disarmed two homemade bombs, assembled from mortar rockets, left at a market in Pagadian City in Zamboanga del Sur province, days after a spate of bombings blamed on the Abu Sayyaf and the Jemaah Islamiya terror network killed at least 14 people in the restive region.

The bomb, concealed in a backpack, was discovered by patrolling soldiers and militias at around 3 a.m. at the gate of the Agora market in downtown Pagadian, according to Bacarro.

Pagadian, a bustling city and center of trade and commerce in Western Mindanao, was bombed in the past and authorities had linked the Abu Sayyaf and radical members of the larger Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to the attacks.

But intelligence officials said they see the signature of the Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiya in the foiled bombing. "There is a signature and it points to the Abu Sayyaf and the JI. We can't say at this time whether the MILF was a part of this attempt to blow up the market," one army intelligence officer.

The bombings last week in the southern region were believed in retaliation to the arrest of the Indonesian wife and two children of Jemaah Islamiya bomber, Dulmatin, in Jolo island.

Istiada Oemar Sovie and her two boys ages 6 and 8 were arrested after Filipino soldiers pursuing Dulmatin raided a terrorist hideout in Patikul town.Dulmatin and his companion Umar Patek, who is also hiding in Jolo island are both wanted by Indonesia for the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people and the 2003 JW Mariot hotel bombing in Jakarta.

A homemade bomb exploded Oct. 11 in Cotabato City, the 3rd in less than 24 hours in the restive Central Mindanao region, where two bombs killed at least 14 people at a market in Tacurong City in Sultan Kudarat province and in the busy business center of Makilala town in North Cotabato province.

The governor of North Cotabato, Emmanuel Pinol, linked an MILF leader -- Basit Usman -- to the attack in Makilala town, but the rebel group strongly denied the accusation. "We have nothing to do with the bombings.

The MILF is currently negotiating peace with the Philippine government and we are sincere with the talks. There is a cease-fire agreement and the MILF is not part in any of these terrorist activities," a rebel spokesman, Eid Kabalu, said.

The military said the Abu Sayyaf headed by Khadaffy Janjalani is protecting Dulmatin and Patek in Jolo island. As many as 31 Jemaah Islamiya militants are believed hiding in the southern Philippines, particularly in Mindanao where the MILF is actively operating, it said.No group or individual claimed responsibility for all the bombings. (Mindanao Examiner)