PHILIPPINES/FILE: Philippines military say forensic tests prove that Khaddafy Janjalani leader of militant group Abu Sayyaf is dead

Philippines military chief General Hermogenes Esperon said on Saturday (January 20) that forensic tests on a corpse had proved that it was that of the leader of Islamic militant group Abu Sayyaf, Khaddafy Janjalani. The leader of the Philippines' fiercest Muslim militant group and the country's most wanted man is dead, military chief General Hermogenes Esperon said on Saturday (January 20). He said U.S. forensic tests on a body found last month on the island of Jolo confirmed it was Khaddafy Janjalani, chief of the Abu Sayyaf, who had a 5 million U.S. dollar bounty on his head. Tissue from the decomposing body which could not initially be identified was taken to the United States for comparison with samples from Janjalani's brother. Captured militants who led troops to the buried body said Janjalani was mortally wounded in a gunbattle in September. Esperon said elements of the 3rd Marine brigade under Brigadier General Juancho Saban recovered the body on December 27. Most of the Philippines' 85 million people are Catholic but a sizeable Muslim minority lives mostly in the south of the country. Several Muslim rebel groups operate there, but the Abu Sayyaf, which means "Bearer of the Sword", has links with regional militant networks and is the most violent. The Abu Sayyaf claimed responsibility for the Philippines' worst terror attack in February 2004 when a bomb crippled a ferry near Manila, killing more than 100 people, and for coordinated bombings in Manila and Mindanao in February 2005 that killed 10. In the late 1990s, the Abu Sayyaf became notorious for a series of high-profile kidnaps and high ransoms paid for the freedom of Western tourists. Janjalani, 31, was on the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation's list of most wanted terrorists after being indicted by a U.S. court for the kidnap and killing of American missionary Martin Burnham in 2002. Janjalani was said to be trying to take the group back to its Islamic fundamentalist roots. In recent years, Abu Sayyaf has developed links with the regional Jemaah Islamiah, which wants to set up an Islamic state across Southeast Asia. At least 30 Indonesian members of Jemaah Islamiah, including two men suspected to be involved in the 2002 Bali bombings, are believed to be on Jolo along with about 400 Abu Sayyaf militants. The Philippine military has about 7,000 men on Jolo and they are receiving training and intelligence from about 100 U.S. special forces officers. The test results capped a week of resounding success for the military against the Abu Sayyaf. On Wednesday, the U.S. trained troops claimed they had killed Jainal Antel Sali, alias Abu Sulaiman, one of its top five leaders, in a gunbattle. Ten militants were killed in another battle on Thursday, while several others have been killed in recent weeks. "Our troops would continue hunting down terrorists," Esperon told reporters. "We will clear Sulu (province) of terrorists and we will not allow them to thrive in any part of the Philippines." Esperon said the next targets would be the two Indonesian militants wanted for the Bali bombings -- Dulmatin and Umar Patek -- and their protectors, Isnilon Hapilon and one-armed rebel leader Radullan Sahiron. Janjalani was the younger brother of the Abu Sayyaf's late founder Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani, who was shot by police on the southwestern island of Basilan in 1998.

ITN Source | January 20, 2007

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