Troops recovered the body of suspected Abu Sayyaf commander Wahab Upao after an hour-long clash in remote Tawi-Tawi province, said marine commandant Maj. Gen. Benjamin Dolorfino in published remarks.
The Abu Sayyaf is one of several militant Islamist separatist groups based in and around the southern islands of the Philippines, where Muslim groups have been engaged in an insurgency for a state, independent of the predominantly Christian Philippines. The group, linked to al-Qaida, has been blamed for bombings, kidnappings and beheadings.
Upao was believed to be among militants who raided a Catholic school in Tawi-Tawi on January 15 and fatally shot priest Roda and seized two hostages. The 54-year-old priest of the Catholic religious order ‘Oblate of Mary Immaculate’ (OMI) was attacked in the island town of Tabawan in Tawi-Tawi Province while praying, according to colleagues.
UNITED STATES REWARD
The United States had offered a $160,000 reward for Upao’s capture, The Associated Press (AP) news agency quoted armed forces spokesman Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro as saying. Upao was wanted for kidnapping and mass abduction, including the 2001 kidnapping of three Americans and 17 other people from the Philippine resort island of Palawan.
Dolorfino said operating troops of the 2nd Marine Battalion Landing Team caught up with an undetermined number of Abu Sayyaf fighters led by Upao around Panglima Sugala town. A military field report reportedly said the troops raided the suspected hide-out of Indonesian terror suspect Dulmatin in Tawi-Tawi province on Thursday, but he escaped. A clash ensued, resulting in the killing of Upao, it said.
"After a one-hour clash," Dolorfino said, "the troops recovered the body of Upao, an M-14 rifle, bandoleer and documents," local media quoted him as saying. There were no casualties on the government side, he claimed.
BALI BOMBINGS
It was not clear whether the troops had sighted Dulmatin, implicated in the 2002 bombings that killed 202 people in Bali, Indonesia.
Dulmatin, a key operative of the Indonesian-based militant group Jemaah Islamiyah, is believed to be in hiding in the southern Philippines. Dolorfino said he had no word about the two hostages — a teacher and a fish vendor, AP reported.
United States-backed offensives against Abu Sayyaf, arrests and surrenders have reduced its strength to about 300 armed men from more than 1,000 during its heyday in 2000, AP reported, citing official military estimates.
