A senior lieutenant of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf and two of his men were killed and another captured in a gunbattle with troops in the southern Philippines, the Marines said yesterday.
Jatib Jainal Usman, whose Abu Sayyaf unit was behind the abduction of six Malaysian resort workers in 2003, was killed on Wednesday in Tawi-Tawi.
Troops were on combat patrol when they ran into Usman's group, triggering a 20-minute gunbattle. Two other Abu Sayyaf rebels were killed, while Usman's son was captured and is now under interrogation, said Marine spokesman Major Melquiades Ordiales.
Troops in the nearby island of Jolo were also pursuing another band of Abu Sayyaf bandits after four days of clashes that left four soldiers and up to 20 rebels dead.
"We have been trying to get to Usman for a long time. He is wanted for the Malaysians' abductions," Ordiales said.
"The hostages were seized from Sabah. One of them was killed, the other one escaped and four others were freed later after negotiations with their families," he said.
The Abu Sayyaf is a small group of Islamic militants wanted by both Manila and Washington for a spate of abductions and the murder of foreign hostages. Security experts say it is linked with al-Qaeda and with the Southeast Asian extremist group Jemaah Islamiyah.
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