ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines — A leader of the Abu Sayyaf bandit group, who was wounded and captured following an encounter in Tawi-Tawi on Saturday, has died due to loss of blood, the military confirmed yesterday.
Majan Sahijuan, alias Apo Mike, suffered multiple gunshot wounds when troopers from the Marine Battalion Landing Team-6 (MBLT) and the Navy cornered him and his two followers on Kalupag Island, Languyan town.
“Apo Mike died due to loss of blood while he was being transported. There was no clinic on the island and in nearby areas,” Col. Alaric Avelino de los Santos, spokesman for the Western Mindanao Command, said.
The encounter resulted in the rescue of the last Indonesian captive Khairuldin bin Yai Kii on Sunday morning.
Sahijuan’s two followers escaped.
Prior to the encounter, Sahijuan and his four followers as well as their four Indonesian captives boarded a junkong watercraft to Tawi-Tawi to escape military pressure in Sulu.
The watercraft sank near Pasigan Island due to rough sea condition, separating Sahijuan, his two followers and one captive from the three hostages and two bandits, identified as Sahud Salasim, alias Ben Wagas, and Injimar Mangkabong, alias Bensal Jakare.
Before the group drifted to different areas of Tawi-Tawi, Sahijuan instructed his men to assume new identities to avoid getting caught.
Authorities rescued the three Indonesians and arrested Salasim on Thursday.
‘An act of God’
The Philippine National Police (PNP) said the rescue of the captives was due to the intense pressure exerted by the police and the military on the kidnappers.
Lt. Gen. Cesar Hawthorne Binag, PNP deputy chief for operations, described the rescue as “an act of God.”
Binag said they are building the cases to be filed against those involved in the kidnapping of the Indonesians.
He said the PNP Anti-Kidnapping Group was ordered to check and account for all victims of the bandit group.
Sahijuan was considered as the most elusive and notorious leader of the Abu Sayyaf kidnapping group.
“He used different channels and drop-offs for their food supplies to avoid exposure. It’s good he was finally neutralized,” De los Santos said.
Sahijuan was tagged in the series of kidnapping activities that occurred in the waters bordering Malaysia and the Philippines.
The Indonesians were seized by Sahijuan’s group near Tambisan Island, Lahad Datu in Sabah, Malaysia on Jan. 17, 2020.