| THE MILITARY is verifying reports Abu Sayyaf leader Khadaffy Janjalani has escaped to Malaysia, its spokesman said Monday. Lieutenant Colonel Buenaventura Pascual issued the statement in response to Tawi Tawi governor Sadikul Sahali's claim that the elusive bandit slipped past a military dragnet in Central Mindanao. "We are verifying those reports," Pascual told reporters in Camp Aguinaldo military headquarters. Sahali was quoted as saying that Janjalani and some 20 other bandits went to Mardanas and Mamanok Islands in Malaysia from Sibutu town in Tawi Tawi. Last week, the military said Janjalani was in Central Mindanao, seeking cover in areas where a ceasefire between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) was in place. |