Philippine marines killed a top Abu Sayyaf commander and five other members of the Islamist terrorist group in a military operation yesterday on the volatile southern island of Jolo. -- PHOTO: AFPMANILA - PHILIPPINE marines killed a top Abu Sayyaf commander and five other members of the Islamist terrorist group in a military operation yesterday on the volatile southern island of Jolo.
Philippine Navy spokesman Edgard Arevalo said civilian sources had provided 'vital information' on the location of an Abu Sayyaf faction headed by Albader Parad, who led the kidnapping of three International Red Cross workers last year.
'We got them in a head-on clash and follow-up operations continued after the attack,' he told The Straits Times.
It took several hours before the military was able to establish that one of the dead gunmen was in fact Parad. Four civilians had independently identified him.
The firefight, which involved a force of 30 marines, was in mountainous terrain near Maimbung township. This densely jungled area is a known lair of the Abu Sayyaf, a notoriously violent group wanted for hundreds of kidnappings and attacks on civilian and military targets.
A marine was killed and three others were injured in the encounter.
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