A suspected Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) commander was captured by government intelligence operatives in Colonia Village, Lamitan town, Nasilan province, sketchy reports reaching the area command and operation center of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Western Mindanao Command (WestMincom) on Sunday said.A flash report received by Lt. Gen. Eugenio Cedo, area command chief of the WestMincom from 103rd Infantry Brigade, said Annik Abbas, alias Abu Anek, one of the ASG commanders, was captured by the intelligence operatives while on his way to Sinangkalaan in Tuburan town Friday evening. The report said the unarmed ASG commander did not resist arrest when nabbed.
He joined the ASG and was named one of the field commanders of Khaddafy Janjalani in 2003, the military said. The arrested suspect allegedly figured in the beheading of American hostage Guillermo Sobero in June 2001. Sobero was among the 21 persons allegedly victimized by Abbas, including American couple Martin and Gracia Burnham, who were abducted from the Dos Palmas resort in Palawan in May 2001. Martin was killed while in captivity and his wife Gracia was rescued the following year in Zamboanga Peninsula.
Abbas, was initially arrested but managed to escape from his prison cell in 2004 jailbreak in Basilan, military record disclosed. Basilan Gov. Wahab Akbar offered a P1 million bounty for the capture of Abbas, it was learned. On Saturday, AFP Chief of Staff General Hermogenes Esperon, Jr. ordered field unit commanders in Southern Philippines to capture ASG chieftain Khaddafy Janjalani and his other field unit commanders and two Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) bomb specialists Dulmaten and Omar Patek, who are suspects in the 2002 Bali bombings in Indonesia that killed more than 200 people and wounded several others.
Meanwhile, an ASG member was killed while two others were captured during a brief gunbattle with police intelligence operatives in Ayala Village, in Basilan, a police report also said.