Janjalani, 2 JI leaders still in Sulu — AFP

ZAMBOANGA CITY — Abu Sayyaf leader Khadaffi Janjalani and two Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) militants have eluded a military dragnet in Sulu but have not escaped to neighboring Basilan, the military said yesterday.

The military said it had enough troops in Sulu to prevent Janjalani and JI militants Dulmatin, who goes by one name, and Umar Patek from slipping to neighboring Basilan.

The three are believed trapped in the jungles near Patikul town. They reportedly fled from nearby Indanan where they had a training and bomb making camp. Dulmatin and Patek are wanted for the 2002 bombings in Bali, Indonesia.

"There was no sighting of Janjalani and any of the JIs here in Basilan," Brig. Gen. Reymundo Ferrer, Basilan’s Army brigade commander said.

"There will be no reason to inject more troops in Sulu if the ‘HVTs’ (high value targets) have already escaped Sulu," he added.

Ferrer said the military remained vigilant in monitoring the presence of the Abu Sayyaf in Basilan whose leadership was flushed out four years ago. He said the civilians also helped in intelligence gathering.

In Davao City, Armed Forces chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said the reorganization of the Mindanao command would improve the military’s capability to destroy the Abu Sayyaf and prevent it from linking with international terror groups like the JI. Esperon was in Davao to lead the launching of the Eastern Mindanao and Western Mindanao commands to replace the Southern Command.

There had been unconfirmed reports that Janjalani, a native of Tabuk, Isabela City in Basilan, had slipped out of Sulu with the help of Isnilon Hapilon and Jainal Antel Sali alias Abu Solaiman.

Hapilon, who is also wanted by the US government for the kidnapping and murder of American citizens, is also a native of Basilan.

But Ferrer said Hapilon had fled Basilan and had never been sighted there since 2002 following the US-Armed Forces of the Philippines joint military exercise called Balikatan 02-1.

Abu Sayyaf spokesman Abu Solaiman said in a radio interview that Janjalani, Patek, and Dulmatin were able to sneak out of Sulu after reportedly inflicting heavy casualties on the military and seizing firearms. The casualties even included an American serviceman, he said. This was denied by the military.

Brig. Gen. Alexander Aleo, Task Force Comet commander, said the military had been alerted of the three terrorists’ escape plans even before the Sulu operations.

Aleo cited the three’s botched escape plan to Davao. The group had also planned to leave Sulu by boat disguised as fishermen. They would have been picked up in the high seas by comrades on a "jongkong," a type of speedboat common in Malaysia, which could skim on shallow waters. STAR sources said the group arrived in Basilan on Sunday and was heading for Punong Mahajid, a mountain complex where Abu Sayyaf terrorists had battled government troops in 2002 in a hostage rescue operation.

The reports that the three were planning to flee Sulu by boat prompted the Philippine Navy’s Western Mindanao command to beef up its strength in the areas around Sulu and Basilan.