Five Islamic militants, including at least an Indonesian suspected member of the al-Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah, were believed killed in a military air strike on their hideout in a southern marshland, officials said Friday. Maj. Gen. Raul Relano, commander of the 6th Infantry Division, said a military intelligence report showed that the unidentified Indonesian was killed along with four local militants after the bombing runs on Thursday on their hideout in Maguindanao province's Butilan Marsh, 900 kilometers southeast of Manila. "The intelligence report said five were dead and three were wounded," said Relano. "The hazy report from our (intelligence) assets in the area said that one foreigner was among those dead." He said the foreigner is presumably one of several Indonesian Jemaah Islamiyah members hiding in the area with leaders of the local Abu Sayyaf group and a renegade commander of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Army spokesman Col. Franklin del Prado said when the attack took place Thursday, among those believed to be in the area were Abu Sayyaf chief Khadaffy Janjalani and at least three Indonesian Jemaah Islamiyah members, including Dulmatin, who allegedly played a key role in the Bali bombings. The US has included Abu Sayyaf - notorious for kidnappings and beheadings - on a list of terrorist groups, and has offered a US$5 million (euro3.8 million) reward for information leading to the capture of its top leaders, including Janjalani. Sidney Jones, an expert on Indonesian radical Islamic organizations for the International Crisis Group, earlier this month cited reports that Dulmatin and Umar Patek, another alleged Bali bomber, were among the chief targets of an air strike by the military in the same area on Nov. 18. Relano said a video of Thursday's operation showed the militants fleeing along the river on the marsh as their huts were hit by 250-pound bombs and rocket fire. (AP)
| No confirmed kills yet, stay tuned |