3rd Basilan escapee captured

ZAMBOANGA CITY , Philippines  – Government security forces recaptured another one of the 31 inmates freed by a group of armed men last Sunday in a violent jailbreak at the Basilan provincial jail that left two people dead.

Western Mindanao Command chief Lt. Gen. Benjamin Dolorfino said Aseng Sahibul, a suspected Abu Sayyaf militant facing murder charges, was recaptured late Wednesday by a combined group of soldiers and policemen who were tipped off that the fugitive was hiding in a remote village in Barangay Kapatagan on the outskirts of Isabela City in Basilan.

Sahibul was the third to be recaptured after security forces took into custody John Baylon and another Abu Sayyaf member, Nassirin Balyuong.

Authorities have used helicopters to scatter 14,000 leaflets all over the island province identifying the 31 fugitives and their corresponding bounty in an effort to recapture them.

“There were already reports from residents and villagers that some of their clothes hanging on clotheslines outside their homes were missing and believed stolen by the fugitives,” according to Brig. Gen. Eugene Clemen, the commander of the Marines in Basilan.

Clemen said they resorted to dropping leaflets in the remote areas of the province to inform the people of the probable presence of fugitives in their villages.

About 2,000 Marines, Army troops and police have fanned out to hunt the detainees – most of whom face terrorist-related charges – who escaped from the Basilan provincial jail as it came under attack last Sunday by suspected Abu Sayyaf extremists and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels.

A jail guard was killed during the jailbreak, police said. One inmate was killed while another inmate was immediately recaptured.

Dolorfino added the capture of Sahibul, who carried a bounty of P200,000, validated intelligence reports that a combined group of Abu Sayyaf and MILF gunmen was behind the attack to rescue their detained comrades.

Intelligence reports identified the attackers as MILF commander Hadji Dan Laksaw Asnawi and Salim Masudpanjal.

Dolorfino said latest intelligence reports revealed they are still hiding and have not linked up with the MILF main force.

Government troops, on the other hand, figured in a firefight with Abu Sayyaf extremists in Sumisip town earlier Wednesday.

Clemen said two Abu Sayyaf terrorists and a soldier were killed during the encounter in Barangay Upper Baliwas.

He said the troops had been searching for the two Chinese traders kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf in November.

“It turned out that those encountered by our forces were part of the Abu Sayyaf group that helped in the attack of Basilan Provincial Jail,” Clemen said.

An inmate, Al-Shariff Amiruddin, revealed the raiders invited them to join the jailbreak during the attack last Sunday.

“I opted not to join because in the first place I was just arrested because of mistaken identity as Abu Sayyaf,” Amiruddin said.

Amiruddin, detained at the Basilan Provincial Jail since 2006, claimed he was arrested without a valid warrant.

The Abu Sayyaf came to international attention in April 2000 when the extremists raided the Malaysian tourist resort island of Sipadan and took 21 Western and Asian hostages, who they shipped to Jolo island and ransomed off for millions of dollars after nearly a year in captivity.

Among its founders is Baser Sulaiman Latip, alias Rahim Malik Suwaib, who was deported last Wednesday by the Indonesian government.

Latip was among the group that abducted a group of tourists in a Palawan resort in May 2001 that included three Americans, two of whom later died.

Latip was believed to be the Abu Sayyaf’s regional conduit of the al-Qaeda terror network of international fugitive Osama bin Laden.

Malacañang said Latip would be detained to face trial for kidnapping and murder.

“We are of course happy over this piece of development in the ongoing fight against terrorism and in particular against these local extremists in this country, who are the Abu Sayyaf,” presidential economic spokesperson Gary Olivar said.

Olivar said they are aware that Latip is also wanted by the US government for the kidnapping of Gracia Burnham and the murder of her husband Martin and another American hostage, Guillermo Sobero.

Olivar, however, stressed the Philippine courts would take jurisdiction over Latip who would be charged with kidnapping and murder.

“He is alleged to be a founding member of the Abu Sayyaf, so it is good news that he has finally been brought to justice,” Olivar said.

The US government has offered millions of dollar in bounty for the arrest of key leaders of the Abu Sayyaf.

US embassy spokesperson Rebecca Thompson said the arrest of Latip is an excellent example of law enforcement cooperation between Manila and Washington. –With Paolo Romero, Pia Lee-Brago