Alleged Sayyaf hitman killed in clash

ZAMBOANGA CITY – Police intelligence agents shot dead a suspected Abu Sayyaf hitman and captured two others in a shootout during a raid on a terrorist hideout in a coastal barangay in Zamboanga City on Thursday.

Killed was Joselito Nassara alias Abu Sufian.

However, the two men whom police came to arrest — brothers Iting and Annie Sailani — were able to escape.

The two men are suspected of involvement in kidnappings of businessmen and the murder of soldiers and policemen in Jolo, a hotbed of the Abu Sayyaf.

Chief Superintendent Jaime Caringal, Zamboanga Peninsula police regional director, said intelligence agents tried to serve an arrest warrant on the Sailani brothers at a house in Barangay Ayala at about 7:30 p.m. when the two notorious and elusive Abu Sayyaf commanders resisted arrest and fired at the police.

They are wanted for the killing of soldiers and policemen in Jolo, and the murder of Sulu Bishop Benjamin de Jesus in the early 1990s, he added.

Caringal said police intelligence agents backed by a SWAT team traced the safehouse of the brothers in nearby Barangay Pamucutan.

Police surprised the suspects and arrested Jayrold Nassara and Salahuddin Asikain alias Ogis.

Police recovered from the suspects a motorcycle with an improvised plate, a .45 caliber pistol with two magazines loaded with ammunition, a bolo with scabbard, three bag packs colored black containing clothing and provisions, he added.

Intelligence officials have linked the Abu Sayyaf to the al-Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden.

The Abu Sayyaf group has carried out some of the Philippines’ worst terror attacks, including the bombing of a passenger ferry in 2004 that killed over 100 people.

It is on the US State Department’s list of foreign terrorists. — With AFP