Suspected Sayyaf rebs kill 3 in Basilan

ZAMBOANGA CITY — Suspected Abu Sayyaf guerrillas opened fire and killed three people traveling on a motorcycle in Lamitan, Basilan yesterday, police said.

The attackers, armed with rifles, fired on the motorcycle carrying two men and a woman along a dirt road in Barangay Colonia, Lamitan town, police said.

Police suspect the Abu Sayyaf was behind the killing which was similar to an attack that killed three commuters in the town two weeks ago.

This developed as top leaders of the Abu Sayyaf met before Christmas Eve and plotted ambuscades, terroristic attacks and liquidation of police and local government executives in Basilan and Sulu after the Ramadan, said Col. Fredesvindo Covarrubias, chief of the Armed Forces’ Civil Relations Group for Mindanao.

Covarrubias said the Abu Sayyaf held another meeting in Patikul, Sulu, attended by Abu Asmad Salayuddi alias Abu Sabaya, Ben Ismi, Imam Sariol and Abu Jumdain alias Doctor Abu Pula.

"They met and plotted ambuscades against the military after the Ramadan," Covarrubias said.

The Ramadan, a fasting season for Muslims, began last Nov. 26 and will culminate today with the celebration of Eid’l Fitr.

The Abu Sayyaf meetings, Covarrubias said, confirmed that Sabaya, henchman of Khadafy Janjalani, the extremist group’s Basilan-based leader, is still alive contrary to reports that he died when the motorboat his group was aboard capsized when battered by big waves in the Tawi-Tawi-Sulu Sea last month.

Covarrubias said the military offensive against the Abu Sayyaf will continue. The extremist group is excluded from the government-declared suspension of military operations (SOMO).

Reports said Ghalib Andang, alias Commander Robot, and his close associate, Mujib Susukan, have regrouped their followers, now numbering 175, and met with other Abu Sayyaf factions in Patikul and Talipao towns.