Manila – Philippine troops battling militants in
a central province killed a key Abu Sayyaf commander who had been blamed for
the beheadings of two Canadians and a German hostage and was apparently
attempting another kidnapping mission, the military chief said Wednesday.
Military chief of staff
Gen. Eduardo Ano told The Associated Press that troops have recovered and
identified the remains of Moammar Askali, who used the nom de guerre Abu Rami,
in the scene of the battle in a far-flung coastal village on Bohol island,
where five other Abu Sayyaf gunmen were killed in the fighting Tuesday, along
with four soldiers and policemen.
Ano said troops took the
picture of Askali after his death and that captured Abu Sayyaf militants
identified the young militant leader.
“This is a major blow to
the Abu Sayyaf,” Ano told The AP. “If they have further plans to kidnap
innocent people somewhere, they will now have to think twice.”
The military chief said
Askali had led several of militants who traveled by speedboats from their jungle
lairs in southern Sulu province to Bohol province in an apparent bid to carry
out another kidnapping in a region that is popular for its beach resorts and
wildlife.
Sporadic gunbattles
between the remaining Abu Sayyaf militants and government forces continued
Wednesday, military officials said.
At least 10 people has
been killed since Tuesday in the fighting in Bohol, far from the extremists’
southern jungle bases and in a region where the US government has warned that
the gunmen may be plotting kidnappings, officials said.
Military officials said
at least six gunmen, three soldiers and a policeman had died in the ongoing
gunbattle in a village in the coastal town of Inabanga. The island province
lies near Cebu province, a bustling commercial and tourism hub.
National police chief
Director General Ronald dela Rosa said troops and policemen attacked the gunmen
early Tuesday in Inabanga, where the gunmen had arrived aboard three boats. The
gunmen took cover in three houses as the firefight broke out.
Government forces seized
control of two of the houses, and the rest of the gunmen either were in the
third house or had fled the area, dela Rosa told reporters.
It’s the Abu Sayyaf’s
first known attempt to carry out ransom kidnappings deep in the heartland of
the central Philippines, far from its jungle lairs in the southern provinces of
Sulu and Basilan.
Bohol island, where one
of the world’s smallest primates, called tarsiers, are found, drawing many
tourists, lies about 640 kilometers (397 miles) southeast of Manila. Bohol is
about an hour away by boat from Cebu province, across the busy Cebu Strait,
which is crisscrossed daily by ferries, cargo ships and fishing vessels.
Abu Sayyaf militants
have crossed the sea border with Malaysia on powerful speedboats and kidnapped
scores of foreign tourists in past years. In 2001, they sailed as far as
western Palawan province, where they seized 20 people, including three
Americans, from a resort.
“If we were not able to
monitor this and engage them with our government forces, it’s a cause for alarm
if they were able to carry out kidnappings,” dela Rosa said.
Ano said military
intelligence operatives had been trying to track down the movements of the
suspected militants, who first traveled from Sulu to southern Zamboanga
peninsula. Intelligence later indicated the gunmen landed ashore in Inabanga,
prompting military and police officials to deploy their forces, he said.
The gunmen traveled on
board motor boats along a river to Inabanga’s Napo village, where government
forces assaulted them, military spokesman Col. Edgard Arevalo said, adding that
troops recovered four rifles and a homemade bomb from the slain gunmen. -AP
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