BASILAN PROVINCE – Security forces arrested Tuesday an Abu Sayyaf sub-leader long wanted by Philippine authorities for murder and kidnappings the past two decades, officials said.
Inspector Dahlan Samuddin, a regional police spokesman, said Nasser Usman was arrested in a joint police and military operation in Lamitan City in the restive province of Basilan in the Muslim autonomous region.
He said Usman was tracked down by authorities in the village of Tandung Ahas before dawn in his hideout. He did not say if there were weapons or explosives seized from Usman’s hideout.
“Usman is the subject of a warrant of arrest issued for the crimes of kidnappings and serious illegal detention,” he said.
He said Usman, who was the head of the Abu Sayyaf’s Islamic Propagation and Indoctrination group under their leader Ustadz Abdurajak Janjalani, was involved in the 1995 pillage of Ipil town just outside Zamboanga City, and in the mass kidnappings of civilians in 2000 in Basilan’s Sumisip town.
Dozens of people were killed in the two Abu Sayyaf attacks.
Samuddin said the militant leader is currently being interrogated by the police as security forces continue to hunt down other members of the Abu Sayyaf which recently pledged allegiance with Sunni jihadist group Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. (Mindanao Examiner)
Like Us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/
Follow Us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/
Read Our News on: http://www.mindanaoexaminer.
20