Manhunt on for Sayyaf leader

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines  – Security forces have launched a manhunt for an Abu Sayyaf leader who managed to escape when they overran a militant training camp in an upland village here, an official said yesterday.

Chief Superintendent Napoleon Estilles, police regional commander, said Khair Mundos, along with three other followers, were wounded during a gunfight with the police and military in Sitio Dulian in Barangay Calabasa.

Estilles said the US Department of Justice earlier offered a $500,000 reward for information that would lead to the arrest of Mundos.

Members of the Special Action Force, Special Warfare Action Group and Regional Public Safety Battalion overran the Abu Sayyaf training camp Thursday, which left five militants killed and another captured.

 Yuankai Lin, a Chinese national kidnapped by the group, was also rescued.

Estilles said villagers monitored that four wounded Abu Sayyaf were carried by their companions as they fled.