AFP checking report on death in Pakistan of alleged Sayyaf bomb expert

Philippine military intelligence officers are verifying reports that a Filipino bomb-making expert allegedly linked to the terrorist Abu Sayyaf Group was killed by a missile fired from an American military drone in Pakistan.

“Tsine-check pa ng intel natin ‘yung accuracy of the report… kung siya talaga ‘yun (Our intelligence officers are still checking the accuracy of the report if it was really him)," Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner, chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines public affairs office, told reporters on Friday. Brawner said that it would be good news for the Philippines if the report was true that Abdul Basit Usman was killed last January 14 near the Afghan border. “Well, kung totoong namatay siya (if it’s true that he died), that will be good for us dahil (because) we are against terrorism." “Well to some extent, it will cripple ‘yung capability nila dahil he is an expert on IEDS and bombs…( Well, to some extent, it will cripple their capability because he is an expert on improvised explosive device and bombs)," added Brawner. The U.S. State Department's list of most-wanted terrorists identifies Usman as a bomb-making expert with links to the Philippines-based Abu Sayyaf and the Southeast Asian Jemaah Islamiyah network. The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which is fighting for an independent Islamic state in southern Philippines, has repeatedly denied that Usman is their member. It even ordered its forces to hunt down the terrorist and bring him to justice. Usman was captured in Sultan Kudarat province in 2002, but escaped in the same year. He was tagged as the suspect behind deadly bombings in the Mindanao cities of General Santos, Kidapawan and Cotabato that killed and wounded dozens of innocent civilians. In 2007, the US offered a P2.5-million bounty for information that would lead to the capture of Usman. The Communist Party of the Philippines criticized the US government, saying it had no right to offer a bounty for someone implicated in a local criminal act. "In funding bounties for the capture or killing of citizens in their own countries, the US government is committing an act of 'political and military intervention'," CPP spokesman Gregorio “Ka Roger" Rosal had said. Rosal noted that before this, the US had also offered and paid rewards as high as $5 million for information leading to the capture or killing of Abu Sayyaf leaders including Khadaffy Janjalani and Abu Solaiman. "In putting up bounties for Filipino accused of crimes within Philippine territory, the US is committing an act of intervention, of interfering in the internal affairs of the Philippines. The US is showing itself as an international marshal having sway over law and justice the world over by funding bounties for posses even in lands beyond its borders," Rosal said. - ARCS/GMANews.TV