Abu Sayyaf man, soldier killed in Zamboanga City clash

ZAMBOANGA CITY – An Abu Sayyaf member and a soldier were killed when security forces clashed with the al-Qaeda-linked Muslim outlaw group near the heart of this southern city Thursday night, officials said.

Ten members of the Abu Sayyaf were under surveillance by an anti-terrorism unit of Task Force Zamboanga in Barangay Guiwan when "they were compromised," said military spokesman Lt. Col. Daniel Lucero.

This resulted in a five-minute gunbattle. The slain rebel was identified as Nadil Hasiman, 27, and the soldier casualty as Cpl. Rogelio Genrangan.

Another soldier, Cpl. Carmelo Regis, was wounded, and a second Abu Sayyaf member, Almujin Salani, was wounded and captured, Lucero said.

However, the eight other Abu Sayyaf members escaped and are still being hunted, Lucero said.

"We still don’t know what they were doing here. We will be interrogating the captured Abu Sayyaf rebel," Lucero said.

The Abu Sayyaf is blamed for the spate of bomb attacks in Zamboanga City last month which killed eight people and injured over a hundred.

The group is known for kidnapping Christians and foreigners in the South and holding them for hefty ransoms. It has been linked by the Philippine and United States governments to the al-Qaeda network of terror mastermind Osama bin Laden.

The Abu Sayyaf is still holding hostage three Indonesian seamen and four female members of the Jehovah’s Witness sect in the jungles of Sulu. – AFP, Roel Pareño