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Rebels, Military: Filipino on U.S. most Wanted List Killed
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[AnNahar] A Filipino on the United States' list of most wanted "terrorists" has been killed in a firefight in the southern Philippines, Muslim rebel leaders and the military said Monday.

Abdul Basit Usman was killed in a remote mountainous area while being escorted by members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the nation's biggest rebel group, its vice chairman Ghazali Jaafar said.

"We can confirm that Usman is dead and his body was buried in accordance with Muslim tradition," Jaafar told Agence France Presse, but he refused to say who killed him.

Jaafar said Usman was killed as MILF rebels were escorting him to the group's leaders to surrender, adding that he probably did not know he was being taken back to the MILF leaders.

"There was a firefight along the way. Usman could have sensed that he was being double-crossed," Jaafar said.

However he refused to give any more details as to who killed Usman, saying only that the circumstances of the firefight were under investigation.

Military chief General Gregorio Catapang said Usman had been killed, but that it remained unclear as to who killed him.

"Basit Usman is dead, as to the circumstances of what happened during that encounter, it's up to (the investigation)," Catapang told reporters.

The military said five of Usman's followers had also died in the battle, and that some of his own men may have double crossed him.

The U.S. State Department's website describes Usman as "a bomb-making expert with links to the Jemaah Islamiyah and Abu Sayyaf Group terrorist organisations" leading him to be considered a threat to American and Filipino citizens and interests..
Posted by: trailing wife 2015-05-06
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=416766