[Straits Times] An Abu Sayyaf sub-commander high on the Philippines' most-wanted list was among three gunmen killed at a plantation on the east coast of Sabah, regional intelligence sources said. They said Nurhassan Jamiri was armed with a high-powered rifle when he was gunned down. He had been off the radar for nearly seven years.Nurhassan, from Basilan island, is suspected to have been involved in the 2011 Makati IED attack on a bus in Manila that killed five passengers. He was also the captor of Warren Rodwell, an Australian national who was held by the Abu Sayyaf for 472 days in Basilan in 2011.
In his hometown of Basilan, Nurhassan led a notorious Abu Sayyaf sub-group that included his cousin Mussana Jamiri, a bomb expert who died in 2016 when the improvised bomb he was carrying blew up as he was trying to escape from security forces.
Intelligence sources believe that Nurhassan was involved in the Marawi City siege last year and might have fled to Sabah to seek refuge about three months ago.
At a news conference on February 28, Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) commander Datuk Hazani Ghazali said the gunmen killed in a shootout at the Tawau plantation on Tuesday are thought to be linked to a cross-border terrorist network that might be planning an attack on Sabah. He said they could also be linked to ten people arrested recently by the Bukit Aman anti-terrorism unit for planning to carry out attacks in Sabag.