SULU (Mindanao Examiner / June 2, 2014) – Security forces have captured a Filipino rebel tagged as behind the deadly bombing that killed two U.S. servicemen in the southern province of Sulu five years ago.
Reports said Miraji Bairullah was captured in the town of Indanan after soldiers and policemen tracked him down in his hideout after an informant tipped off the authorities about the man. No security officials wanted to give a statement about the capture of Bairullah, who is currently being interrogated by authorities in an undisclosed place.
Bairullah, a member of the Moro National Liberation Front, is long wanted both by the Philippines and the U.S. for the bombing that killed SSG Jack Martin and SFC Christopher Shaw, and a Filipino soldier in the village of Kagay in Indanan town on September 29, 2009.
The U.S. soldiers were on their way to inspect a school project with Filipino troops when their vehicle rolled over a landmine.
U.S. troops under the Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines are deployed in Sulu since 2006 and aiding the Philippine military in defeating the Abu Sayyaf that authorities said have links with the al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiya.
Although security officials deny U.S. forces were directly involved in combat operations, there were numerous reports from civilians that American soldiers actually participated in the operations aimed at capturing or killing militant leaders in Sulu and other areas in the restive southern region of Mindanao.
A US soldier was also killed and another wounded in a bomb attack at a roadside cafe near an army in Zamboanga City in October 2002. (Mindanao Examiner)
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