The information was culled from a suspected Abu Sayyaf courier arrested in Taguig last June 17, but was announced only yesterday.
The suspect, Hanshim Abdulajid, was apprehended by combined elements of the Army’s Intelligence and Security Group, the Counter-Intelligence Office of the Philippine National Police and the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency.
Abdulajid reportedly admitted he was an operative of the Abu Sayyaf urban intelligence unit under Isnilon Hapilon, who replaced Hector Janjalani after the latter was arrested by police in Manila last January.
Hapilon allegedly led the raid on Golden Harvest plantation in Lantawan town in Basilan last June 11 to divert the attention of soldiers who were tracking down an Abu Sayyaf band holding 23 hostages, among them three Americans.
Abdulajid said he was tasked to monitor military and police movements in Basilan.
He said he was dispatched to Manila by Abu Sayyaf leader Jairon Munib to locate Abubakar Janjalani and set up safehouses for their comrades who will stage the bomb attacks and other terrorist activities in the metropolis.
The suspect identified the leader of the Abu Sayyaf bomb squad as Abu Moktar alias Hair Moktar.
Running gunbattles broke out late Tuesday in a jungle area near the Sampinit complex at the center of the thickly forested island-province.
One soldier was wounded in the skirmishes, the military said.
"We are hoping for a decisive battle in a few days," Armed Forces spokesman Brig. Gen. Edilberto Adan said.
He said troops from the Army’s 55th Infantry Battalion and Scout Rangers encountered about 40 Abu Sayyaf bandits.
Adan pointed out that the troops encountered the "perimeter guard" of the main group holding the hostages.
In the capital town of Isabela, police shot dead yesterday another suspected Abu Sayyaf member identified as Mustallah Amin.
"Our operation is ongoing against all infiltrators here in Isabela," Basilan police director Superintendent Akmadul Pangambayan said.
The bandits and their captives were believed holed out in a village called Masola near Isabela.
"We are waiting for further feedback. This will continue and our troops are already in the area where they (Abu Sayyaf) are believed to be hiding," Adan said.
An Abu Sayyaf unit was believed holding American couple Martin and Gracia Burnham and 13 Filipino hostages.
A second Abu Sayyaf band holds another set of 13 hostages snatched from the plantation in Lantawan.
The Burnhams, along with a third American, 40-year-old Guillermo Sobero of California, and 17 Filipinos were seized by Abu Sayyaf gunmen from the posh resort of Dos Palmas in Palawan on May 27.
The bandits also took captives four hospital workers in Lamitan town last June 2.
Nine of the Dos Palmas hostages were either rescued or freed, while two others were executed.
The captors also claimed they have beheaded Sobero, but intensive search for his body proved futile.
The military said it was closing in like a pincer on the Abu Sayyaf, leading to three clashes.
Lt. Col. Danilo Servando, of the Armed Forces’ Southern Command based in Zamboanga City, said the rebels in Sampinit belonged to the main Abu Sayyaf group led by Khadaffy Janjalani and Abu Sabaya.
The military said its hunt for the Abu Sayyaf kidnappers was being assisted by a captured Abu Sayyaf intelligence officer Abdullah Yusof.
Armed Forces chief Gen. Diomedio Villanueva said Yusof has furnished the troops valuable information about the Abu Sayyaf operation. "He has mentioned certain names, and certain activities in certain places."
"Right now, we are still in the process of looking for the enemy. Our soldiers will not stop until we resolve this case," Villanueva said.
The Abu Sayyaf warned more hostages would be killed if the government would not change its negotiator, but Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes said they would not allow the bandits to dictate the terms.
Meanwhile, the Department of Health admitted it is helpless in extending assistance to the hostages.
Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit said there was no way to find out who among the hostages have fallen ill.
Some of the hostages were reportedly afflicted with malaria and other ailments, and needed medicines badly.
However, nobody wants to volunteer to take the medical supplies to the Abu Sayyaf lair for fear of their own safety. – Paolo Romero, Pia Lee-Brago, Jaime Laude, Roel Pareño