| Submit your comments on this article |
| Southeast Asia |
| Abu Sayyaf Big iced |
| 2002-05-20 |
| Police have killed a Muslim extremist guerrilla commander involved in nearly a dozen kidnappings, including an American missionary couple who have been held for nearly a year. A police officer shot Sahinun Hapilon, a mid-ranking leader of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group, during a scuffle in the southern city of Zamboanga where plain-clothes police had tried to arrest him. Hapilon was one of three brothers who have headed Abu Sayyaf rebels in Lantawan, on Basilan island, where the rebels are believed to be holding Martin and Gracia Burnham. The couple, from Kansas, were kidnapped along with 18 other people from a resort last May. Hapilon, who had a reward of 150,000 pesos (£2,000) on his head, was identified after his death by a number of people, including a former hostage and a former Abu Sayyaf guerrilla. The rebel leader was apparently in Zamboanga to buy firearms and ammunition for the Abu Sayyaf, the target of a US-backed military offensive. He's not in the same category as Khattab or Basayev, but he's still better off decomposing. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |