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| India-Pakistan |
| Philippines probes reported US killing of wanted militant |
| 2010-01-23 |
| [Dawn] Philippine authorities said Friday they were investigating reports that one of the country's most wanted militants may have been killed by a US missile strike in Pakistan. Abdul Basit Usman was among several people believed to have been killed on January 14 in a US drone attack that targeted Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud in a remote area of northern Pakistan, according to various media reports. "If the reports are true then it is good news for us because the killing of Basit Usman means one less terrorist on the street," Lieutenant General Benjamin Dolorfino, military commander in the southwestern Philippines, told AFP. But he added: "We still have to verify the reports." Dolorfino said Usman was involved in many deadly bombings in the southern Philippines' Mindanao region, where insurgents have waged a decades-old separatist rebellion in which more than 150,000 people have died. The US government has offered one million-dollar bounty for information leading to Usman's capture, according to its "Rewards for Justice" website. The website, run by the US State Department, described him as a bomb-making expert with links to the Abu Sayyaf, a Philippines' militant organisation blamed for the nation's worst attacks. It also said he had links to Jemaah Islamiyah, a Southeast Asian extremist group that is linked to Al-Qaeda and been blamed for major attacks including the 2002 Bali bombings in Indonesia that killed 202 people. "US authorities consider Basit to be a threat to US and Filipino citizens and interests. Basit is believed to have orchestrated several bombings that have killed, injured, and maimed many innocent civilians," the website said. The Philippine military previously said Usman also had links to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the nation's largest Muslim guerrilla group that has led the long-running rebellion in the south. MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said it was also looking into the reports Usman had been killed, while reiterating the group's position that it was not involved with him. "We are trying to verify (those) reports," Kabalu said. "As far as we know, Usman had links with Jemaah Islamiyah and Al-Qaeda, and could be fighting alongside the Taliban, which has links with Al-Qaeda." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 A simple "thank you" would suffice. |
| Posted by: ed 2010-01-23 12:04 |