Sayyaf captor of mayor’s son captured in Zamboanga

ZAMBOANGA CITY – Security forces captured an Abu Sayyaf terrorist linked to the 2018 random kidnapping of a municipal mayor’s town in southern Philippines.

The Naval Forces Western Mindanao on Saturday said policemen, backed by soldiers, swooped down on an Abu Sayyaf hideout and captured the 30-year old Salip Yusop Habibulla in the village of Baliwasan.

Habibulla, a native of Sulu’s Indanan town, was among those accused in the kidnapping of Jelster Quimpo in September 2018. Quimpo, now 33 and mayor of Zamboanga del Norte’s Labason town, is the son of former mayor Eddie Quimpo.

Quimpo was freed three months later in the village of Anuling in Sulu’s Patikul town.

Habibulla’s capture came two days after soldiers clashed with Abu Sayyaf gunmen in Al-Barka town in the neighboring province of Basilan. The military said the fighting killed a still undetermined number of terrorists under two commanders.

Soldiers also recovered three rifles and assorted magazines and a communication radio, according to Lt. Gen. Roy Galido, the chief of the Western Mindanao Command. He said the operation in Basilan involved the 14th Special Forces Company, 4th Special Forces Battalion, and Naval Forces Western Mindanao’s Patrol Guard 901, 1st Boat Attack Division, and Marine Battalion Landing Team 6.

He urged the Abu Sayyaf fighters to surrender peacefully. “If they refuse to join us, we will go after them and prevent them from creating havoc in the peaceful communities for it is our primary duty to protect our fellow Filipinos from any form of violence and inhumane acts,” he said. 

While troops were hunting the Abu Sayyaf in Basilan, Brig. Gen. Giovanni Franza, commander of the 1102^nd Infantry Brigade, said 33 Abu Sayyaf members surrendered in Luuk town on March 29. 

“The surrender was made possible through the 21st Infantry Battalion and the 101st Infantry Battalion with the collaborative efforts of the local governments, security sector, and the communities,” Franza said on Saturday, adding, the terrorists also surrendered 13 rifles and a handgun. 

The Abu Sayyaf - founded in the 1990s in Basilan province - was originally fighting for a separate Islamic state, but has resorted to ransom kidnappings after its chieftain Abdurajak Janjalani was killed in a firefight with a policeman in Lamitan City in December 1998. But some of its hardcore commanders pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in an effort to capitalize on the vicious and brutal campaign of the jihadists in the Middle East.

Since the past decade, hundreds of Abu Sayyaf members in the South had surrendered to the government in exchange for amnesty and a package of livelihood aid and other assistance and are now living peacefully with their families. (Mindanao Examiner)