MANILA // The Philippines’ most wanted militant was killed by his own bodyguards in pursuit of a bounty offered by the United States, the head of the military said on Monday.
Abdul Basit Usman, a militant with strong Al Qaeda links who was blamed for numerous bomb attacks in the southern Philippines, had been hunted by security forces since 2002. His death at the weekend could boost peace efforts in the country’s south,
“There was infighting among his group,” General Gregorio Pio Catapang said at the main army base in Manila. “Reports reaching this headquarters revealed that Usman and five of his unidentified cohorts were killed in a shoot-out allegedly with fellow members of his group.”
Gen Catapang said he had information that Usman’s followers had turned on him because of a IS$1 million (Dh3.67m) bounty offered by the US State Department, without elaborating.
But his account was contradicted by the country’s largest Muslim rebel group, which said its fighters killed the renegade Usman.
In March 2014, the Philippines signed a peace deal with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front ending about 45 years of conflict that has killed 120,000 people and displaced 2 million.
But the rebels will not lay down weapons until after a final peace deal is reached. They are waiting for Manila to set up a new Muslim autonomous government in the south, granting wider powers over its economy, politics and social life.
Gen Catapang said Usman was travelling with seven bodyguards towards a rebel camp in Guindulungan town, on the southern island of Mindanao, when a firefight erupted within his group.
“The bodies were discovered by Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels,” he said, adding army and police units were trying to establish the identities of the slain militants.
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front’s chief peace negotiator, Mohagher Iqbal, said Usman was killed by its forces when he resisted arrest.
Usman’s group was intercepted by rebel forces near a creek at around 10.30am, (3.30am UAE) on Sunday, but chose to shoot it out rather than be taken to the guerrilla’s main camp, he said.
Both Gen Catapang and Mr Iqbal said Usman’s death would be a boost to the peace efforts.
“Our security operations will continue until we get all the potential spoilers to the peace process,” Gen Catapang said, adding there were still 10 foreign militants and about 100 local renegade militants in the south.
Security forces had been hunting Usman since he escaped from a January police raid that killed Malaysian Zulkifli bin Hir, an alleged bomb maker who was the subject of a $5m US government bounty.
The January raid also led to the death of 44 police commandos as rebels fought back, setting back efforts to finalise the peace deal.
Security forces accuse of Usman of carrying out at least nine bombing incidents in the south, including an attack in the port city of General Santos in 2002 that killed 15 people and wounded 60 others.
The US State Department’s website describes him as “a bomb-making expert with links to the Jemaah Islamiyah and Abu Sayyaf Group terrorist organisations” leading him to be considered a threat to American and Filipino citizens and interests.
*Reuters and Agence France-Presse
