Philippines, February 21: A Top commander of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf is among six militants killed in fighting on an island in the restive south, the Philippines military says.
The head of military forces in the south says among those killed on Jolo island is Albader Parad, an Abu Sayyaf chief who led the abduction of three Red Cross workers last year.
“One of those six … we recovered was Albader Parad, as confirmed by four civilian sources we have,” Lieutenant General Benjamin Dolorfino said.
He also confirmed that another of those slain, Abdulhan Jumdail, was identified as the cousin of Umbra Jumdail, one of the core leaders of the Abu Sayyaf.
Previously, military sources said it was a brother of Jumdail that was killed in the latest fighting.
Lt Gen Dolorfino described the action as a “surgical, intelligence-driven operation”.
The assault on the Abu Sayyaf band began late on Saturday on Jolo and raged on until yesterday morning with three soldiers wounded in the fighting, Lt Gen Dolorfino said.
While fighting has ceased, the soldiers are still trying to track down any remnants.
“This is a very big accomplishment for us; it means we surprised the enemy,” Lt Gen Dolorfino said.
The Abu Sayyaf, which was set up in the 1990s allegedly with seed money from Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network, has been blamed for a string of kidnappings in the Philippines as well as the bombing of a passenger ferry in Manila Bay that killed more than 100 people in 2004.
Parad’s gang snatched Filipina Mary Jean Lacaba, Swiss national Andreas Notter and Italian Eugenio Vagni in January last year while they were on a Jolo humanitarian mission for the Red Cross.
The three hostages were released last year.
—Agencies