2 Abu Sayyaf suspects nabbed in Zamboanga

ZAMBOANGA CITY – Military intelligence operatives captured two Abu Sayyaf members suspected of involvement in the bombing in Malagutay district in this city that killed three people, including a United States Green Beret, and hurt 201 others last October.

Incoming Armed Forces chief of staff Gen. Narciso Abaya presented to media Julkipi Salim Salamuddin and Alhaddi Jailani, alias Omar Jailani. Salamuddin and Jailani were captured separately in their safehouses in Zamboanga City.

Abaya said Salamuddin was captured on Wednesday on the strength of an arrest warrant issued by the Sulu provincial court.

However, Abaya declined to reveal the location of Salamuddin’s safehouse because of an ongoing operation to capture the suspect’s companion, who reportedly slipped out of the safehouse.

Jailani, Abaya said, was captured on Thursday in Upper Calarian, near the headquarters of the AFP Southern Command.

Abaya said both suspects are members of the Abu Sayyaf’s underground urban hit squad tasked with bombing missions.

The arrest of Salamuddin and Jailani brings to seven the number of Abu Sayyaf bombers captured in connection with the Zamboanga City bomb attacks. Five of the suspects were charged with murder, frustrated murder and illegal possession of explosives and firearms.