Sayyaf leader, 4 others dead in Basilan clash

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – An Abu Sayyaf commander and two of his followers and two pro-government militiamen were killed in a clash in an upland village in Ungkaya Pukan, Basilan on Thursday afternoon, security officials said.

Seven other militants and a civilian volunteer were also wounded in the encounter with the group of slain Abu Sayyaf sub-leader Sulaiman Ajanti, alias Ulay. 

Capt. Ma. Rowena Muyuela, spokesperson of the Western Mindanao Command, said two platoons of government troopers led by Maj. Muhaimin Ahmad and civilian volunteers of the Army’s 18th Infantry Battalion under Lt. Col. Jose Paolo Perez, backed by military intelligence agents, launched the attack on Ajanti’s group in Barangay Sungkayot, Ungkaya Pukan town.

The military said Ajanti’s group was involved in kidnappings and ambush-killings of 29 rubber plantation workers.