Sayyaf commander involved in Basilan kidnapping killed in raid

ZAMBOANGA CITY — An Abu Sayyaf commander tagged in the kidnapping of teachers and students in Basilan six years ago was killed when troops raided his hideout in an island off Zamboanga Sibugay province on Monday.

Brig. Gen. Reymundo Ferrer, 1st Army Division commander based in Western Mindanao, said troops shot dead Tajajul Ampul alias Abu Imam, after he fired at the soldiers.

"Ampul was a hardcore member of the Abu Sayyaf and has a bounty reward of P150,000," he said.

Military intelligence agents and troops from the Army’s 102nd Brigade were serving a warrant for Ampul’s arrest when they raided his hideout in Sitio Bomba, Barangay Kaliran, Oluntanga town in Zamboanga Sibugay at about 9 a.m. Monday, he added.

Ferrer said Ampul was tagged in the kidnapping of teachers and students, including martyred Catholic priest Fr. Rhoel Gallardo of Claret in Sumisip in March 2000.

He was also linked to the snatching of six farmers of Golden Harvest Plantation in Barangay Tairan, Lantawan town in 2001, where two of the victims were beheaded at the height of the Dos Palmas hostage crisis in Basilan, he added.

Ampul was also involved in the kidnapping of Dr. Danilo Barandino and his family in Basilan in the early ’90s. The victims were freed following the alleged payment of ransom, Ferrer said.

In Zamboanga City, alerted military intelligence agents seized a chemical explosive at a checkpoint in a coastal barangay yesterday.

The military also arrested a suspect who was trying to slip the five sacks of ammonium nitrate, a bomb-making material.

Maj. Eugene Batara, Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) information chief, said the explosive chemical was intercepted by troops from Task Force Zamboanga (TFZ) and the Military Intelligence Company (MICO) in a checkpoint in Barangay Rio Hondo at about 5:45 a.m.

Batara said the explosive material, contained in 15 sacks of 25 kilos each, was detected in a jeep after the cargo handler was found to be carrying a .45 caliber pistol.

"The sacks of ammonium nitrate were concealed in sacks filled with charcoal," he said.

The cargo handler who was trying to slip the explosive material was identified as Jasimin Sahid, a native of Mapun, Cagayan de Tawi-Tawi, he added.

Col. Antonio Mark Supnet, anti-terror Task Force Zamboanga commander, said the jeep’s driver was released after the military found that he had nothing to do with the shipment of the explosive chemical.

"The driver turned out to have been hired and was not involved in the shipment," he said.