Philippine troops today recovered the body of senior Abu Sayyaf leader Abu Sabaya, who was killed along with two of his men in a high seas shootout, a military official said. The bodies of Abu Sabaya, Abu Musa and Ibno Hajim were recovered at sea off the town of Sibuco, Marine Colonel Juancho Saban told AFP. Four other gunmen - Abdurahman Ismael, Tommy Rahim, Hassan Samsi and Adzmar Aluk - were taken into custody after the dawn firefight, he added. Earlier, Philippines President Gloria Arroyo said in a statement that Abu Sabaya was thought to have been fatally wounded during the dawn clash between an elite Navy Special Warfare Group (SWAG) unit and seven gunmen on a motorboat.
As of the time I went off noddy-bye last night, FoxNews was saying the hit was confirmed, but this morning CNN was saying they hadn't found the corpse. As long as they've got the carcass, and it's well and truly perforated, we can cross him off the list for good — unless he's like Riaz Basra — and move on to the next Bad Guy. |