MANILA, Philippines - The members of the
police's Special Action Force (SAF) killed a top Jemaah Islamiyah operative
before they were assaulted by Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) fighters in
Mamasapano, Maguindanao on Sunday.
"The Maguindanao [incident]
is a PNP operation of high-value [targets], as initial reports, they were able
to neutralize one of them, 'Marwan' (Zulkifli bin Hir) although Basit Usman,
managed to escape," the Philippine News Agency quoted Defense Secretary Voltaire
Gazmin as saying on Monday.
Gazmin clarified that the
government is still verifying the report through other sources.
Marwan, who is wanted by the US
Federal Bureau of Investigation with a $15-million bounty, is reportedly behind
the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), which has claimed
responsibility for the spate of bombings in Maguindanao.
He had been reported killed in
2012, but no body was recovered until he resurfaced in Mindanao.
Earlier reports said the SAF members
were serving a warrant of arrest for Marwan at the residence of a Muslim cleric
named Imam Manan, a senior official of the MILF's 105th Base Command, in
Barangay Tukanilap.
Local residents said MILF rebels attacked
when the SAF members opened fire at the house of the cleric.
Reports also said that the BIFF
ambushed the retreating SAF members in Barangay Mangapang.
Pope kill
plot
Sources from the intelligence
community confirmed having checked on the report that Marwan's alleged number
one student in handling improvised explosives device (IED) traveled to Leyte
ahead of the Pope’s Francis visit last January 17.
The suspect was supposed to carry
out a terror plot during the Pope's visit in Tacloban City, but it was aborted
because of the sudden change in the Roman Pontiff's schedule due to
Tropical Storm "Amang."
Aside from the information on the
plan of Marvan's group, authorities also checked every information on supposed
plans to disrupt the pope's visit in the Philippines last week.
From the Rajah Solaiman Movement,
the Al-Qaeda linked Jemaah Islamiya to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria
(ISIS), the joint task force of military and police tasked to secure Pople
Francis conducted round-the-clock verification of information, random checks
and raids.
“We cannot let our guards down.
We looked at all the information, validated all, dispatched people to make sure
that nothing tragic will happen to the Pope,” said a top military official
privy to the intensified security operations on the ground.
Among the groups monitored by the
joint task force, included members of the Balik Islam group, the Rajah Solaiman
Group and the Jemaah Islamiya, which gained notoriety during the Rizal Day
attacks in 2000 and other atrocities as well as some personalities linked to
the ISIS.
On the day that Pope Francis
arrived Manila on Jan. 15, security forces also looked into an extremist group,
Boko Haram, said to be a terrorist, militant and Islamist movement based in
Nigeria and linked to Al-Qaeda and ISIS.
Hours before the Pope’s arrival,
intelligence operatives acted on a report that an alleged supporter of the ISIS
identified as Nicasio Dajoyag was holed up in a house in Barangay Addition
Hills in Mandaluyong City, but the police and military operatives came out
empty handed.
Police and military teams were
also dispatched at a reported Strike Wing School in Bulacan and Visayas
Aerospeace School in Iloilo to verify reports about the presence of two
Nigerian nationals believed to be part of Boko Haram.
Three days prior to the Pope’s
arrival on January 15, joint police and military operatives swooped down on
various alleged safe houses in eastern and southern parts of Metro Manila that
resulted in the arrest of suspects Norberto Paranga Jr., Justo Sultan and
Robert Raton.
“The preempted operation under
Oplan Lambat-Sibat was conducted to eliminate all probable threats against the
Pope and his delegation,” documents showed.
The military and police received
information that Paranga was planning to launch a “test mission in January
2015,” which coincides with the papal visit.
Paranga is a bemedaled military
officer, who earned intensified training, including VIP protection,
intelligence-gathering and marksmanship, apparently before he went ashtray from
military service. The arrests were conducted under the so-called
Operation Plan Lambat-Sibat.
Post a Comment