Sayyaf leader wanted by U.S. killed in Southern Philippines

ZAMBOANGA CITY – Filipino soldiers shot dead a senior Abu Sayyaf terrorist leader wanted by the United States for the July 2011 kidnapping of an American woman and her son in the southern Philippine port city of Zamboanga. 

Brig. Gen. Domingo Gobway, commander of the Joint Task Force-Basilan, said Radzmil Jannatul was killed in a military operation late Friday in the neighboring Muslim island-province of Basilan, just 29 miles south of here. There was no military casualties. 

He said Jannatul was killed in Baiwas village in Sumisip town after a 15-minute gun battle with members of the elite 5^th Scout Rangers who tracked him down. “Firefight ensued which lasted for about 15 minutes after which the enemy withdrew, living behind their slain comrade. While scouring the encounter site, troops recovered the dead body of the ASG personality who was positively identified as Jannatul,” Gobway said.

 

The general said more soldiers were deployed on Saturday to hunt down other Abu Sayyaf fighters who managed to escape the assault. “Pursuit operation is currently being conducted while troops from the 64th Infantry Battalion were directed to establish blockades to possibly neutralize the fleeing enemies,” he said, adding the slain terrorist leader was notorious.

 

Jannatul, he added, was the Abu Sayyaf leader in Basilan after taking over from Furuji Indama who was killed two years in a clash two years ago.

 

Lt. Gen. Alfredo Rosario, Jr., chief of the Western Mindanao Command, commended the soldiers involved in the operation “for taking down the ASG leader,” adding the Jannatul’s slaying will totally weaken the Abu Sayyaf forces in the province, a major stronghold of the pro-ISIS group. “This will totally weaken the group and force the remaining members to give up their fight and save themselves,” he said. 

Jannatul was among four Abu Sayyaf gunmen indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice for kidnapping the 43-year old Gerfa Yeatts Lunsmann and her son, Kevin, 14; and a Filipino nephew Romnick Jakaria, 19, while on a holiday here on July 12, 2011. Jakaria managed to escape from his captor on November 13, 2011. 

The others were Indama, Muadz, and Abu Basim and the indictment alleges that the group held the Virginia mother for 82 days and the son for 151 days, and forced the family to pay ransom for their return. “While on a family vacation overseas, a Virginia mother and her teenage son were captured, forced into boats at gunpoint, and taken to an island where they were held hostage for ransom,” said U.S. Attorney Machen. 

Both hostages were forced into boats at gunpoint, brought to Basilan and forced to march to a camp where they were held until September 2011. The kidnappers released the mother on October 2, 2011, but retained her son as a hostage, and demanded that she pay a large ransom for his freedom.  The son eventually escaped from his captivity on December 9, 2011. (Mindanao Examiner)