Philippines: most-wanted terrorist killed
Source: Agencies |
February 3, 2012, Friday
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THE Philippine military said it killed Southeast Asia's most-wanted terrorist and two other senior militants yesterday in a US-backed airstrike marking one of the region's biggest anti-terror successes in recent years.
The dawn strike targeting a militant camp on a southern Philippine island killed Malaysian Zulkifli bin Hir, also known as Marwan, a top leader of the regional, al Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah terror network, said military spokesman Colonel Marcelo Burgos.
Also killed were the leader of the Philippines-based Abu Sayyaf militants, Umbra Jumdail, and a Singaporean leader in Jemaah Islamiyah, Abdullah Ali, who used the guerrilla name Muawiyah, Burgos said.
Police recovered the bodies, and they were "positively identified by police and our intelligence informants at the site," Burgos said.
About 30 militants were at the camp near Parang town on Jolo Island, the stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf and their allies from the mostly Indonesian-based Jemaah Islamiyah, when it was bombarded by two OV10 aircraft at 3am, regional military commander Major General Noel Coballes said.
"Our report is there were at least 15 killed, including their three leadership," he said.
The US had offered a US$5 million reward for the capture of Marwan, a US-trained engineer accused of involvement in a number of deadly bombings in the Philippines and in the training of new militants.
American counterterrorism troops have helped Filipino troops track Marwan for years using satellite and drone surveillance. About 600 US special forces troops have been deployed in the southern Philippines since 2002, providing crucial support for the Philippines' counterterrorism operations.
Marwan's death may represent the most important success against regional terror network Jemaah Islamiyah since the January 2011 arrest of Indonesian suspect Umar Patek in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where Osama bin Laden was killed in a US commando attack four months later.
Patek and Marwan collaborated with the Abu Sayyaf in training militants in bomb-making skills, seeking funding locally and abroad and plotting attacks, including against American troops in the southern Philippines.
Patek is believed to have traveled back to Indonesia then onward to Pakistan, leaving Marwan to take charge in the southern Philippines, military officials say.
Abu Sayyaf, the Philippine group, is behind numerous ransom kidnappings, bomb attacks and beheadings that have terrorized the Philippines for more than two decades.
The dawn strike targeting a militant camp on a southern Philippine island killed Malaysian Zulkifli bin Hir, also known as Marwan, a top leader of the regional, al Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah terror network, said military spokesman Colonel Marcelo Burgos.
Also killed were the leader of the Philippines-based Abu Sayyaf militants, Umbra Jumdail, and a Singaporean leader in Jemaah Islamiyah, Abdullah Ali, who used the guerrilla name Muawiyah, Burgos said.
Police recovered the bodies, and they were "positively identified by police and our intelligence informants at the site," Burgos said.
About 30 militants were at the camp near Parang town on Jolo Island, the stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf and their allies from the mostly Indonesian-based Jemaah Islamiyah, when it was bombarded by two OV10 aircraft at 3am, regional military commander Major General Noel Coballes said.
"Our report is there were at least 15 killed, including their three leadership," he said.
The US had offered a US$5 million reward for the capture of Marwan, a US-trained engineer accused of involvement in a number of deadly bombings in the Philippines and in the training of new militants.
American counterterrorism troops have helped Filipino troops track Marwan for years using satellite and drone surveillance. About 600 US special forces troops have been deployed in the southern Philippines since 2002, providing crucial support for the Philippines' counterterrorism operations.
Marwan's death may represent the most important success against regional terror network Jemaah Islamiyah since the January 2011 arrest of Indonesian suspect Umar Patek in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where Osama bin Laden was killed in a US commando attack four months later.
Patek and Marwan collaborated with the Abu Sayyaf in training militants in bomb-making skills, seeking funding locally and abroad and plotting attacks, including against American troops in the southern Philippines.
Patek is believed to have traveled back to Indonesia then onward to Pakistan, leaving Marwan to take charge in the southern Philippines, military officials say.
Abu Sayyaf, the Philippine group, is behind numerous ransom kidnappings, bomb attacks and beheadings that have terrorized the Philippines for more than two decades.
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