Maj. Gen. Glicerio Sua said he was not surprised by Khaddafi Janjalani’s movements, however, since he has done that in the past. He suspected that Janjalani must be seeking refuge with the Abu Sayyaf faction of Radulan Sahiron in Sulu.
"That has been his route. He is moving to evade our troops," Sua said, referring to the Abu Sayyaf’s main stronghold. "But he has not gone back to Basilan since he left the province last year."
Sua heads a unit, dubbed "Task Force Comet," tasked with hunting down the elusive Abu Sayyaf.
He declined to give details on the progress of the campaign, which has been going on since 2000, when then President Joseph Estrada ordered an offensive against the Islamist group for kidnapping 21 mostly foreign hostages from a Malaysian island resort in April that year.
Most of the captives were released after payment of ransom, while the rest either escaped or were rescued.
Sua said they are verifying intelligence reports that the bandits were sighted in Tawi-Tawi.
Brig. Gen. Renato Miranda, commander of Marine forces in the south, however, said he received no such reports and he has a marine brigade in Tawi-Tawi ready to deal with the bandits in case they do land there.
The Abu Sayyaf in Sulu is currently holding seven hostages – four Filipino women and three Indonesian sailors – and had demanded P16 million as ransom.
The Abu Sayyaf styles itself as an Islamic rebel group fighting for an independent Islamic state in Mindanao. It operates in Basilan, Zamboanga del Norte and Sulu provinces.
However, the group is mostly into kidnapping foreigners, including Americans, and Filipino Christians, prompting the government to consider them bandits.
In May, Washington offered up to $5 million for the capture of Janjalani and four other top Abu Sayyaf leaders.
They were later indicted in absentia by a US grand jury for the kidnapping last year of Americans Martin and Gracia Burnham and Guillermo Sobero, who was later beheaded.
Martin Burnham was killed in a June 7 rescue attempt in which Gracia Burnham was wounded but freed.
Considered a terrorist group by Washington, the Abu Sayyaf has been linked to the al-Qaeda terrorist network and to the militant group Jemaah Islamiyah, al-Qaeda’s main ally in Southeast Asia based in Indonesia.
It was blamed for a string of bombings in Zamboanga City last month that killed 11 people – including an American soldier and a Filipino marine – and wounded over 160 others.
Earlier this year, about 1,000 US troops spent six months in Basilan holding counter-terrorism exercises with Philippine forces as part of Washington’s global war on terrorism.
Last week, senior Abu Sayyaf leader Hamsiraji Sali – among the five wanted by the United States – called up a television station, claiming he broke ties with Janjalani’s group and wanted to surrender.
But the military dismissed his surrender offer as a trick when Sali demanded a halt to the military operations against them.
Sali warned he would stage brutal attacks if the military continues its operations against them, which led to the death of one of his men two weeks ago.
"If the operations continue, we can be worse than (Abu) Sabaya. You know Sabaya only uses his mouth," he warned, referring to the Abu Sayyaf spokesman whom the military said was killed in a shootout with troops in June.
Sabaya loved the spotlight and regularly called the media to give interviews and taunt his military pursuers.