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Abu Sayyaf sub-leader, 2 others killed in Sulu


Three members of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group, including a sub-leader, were killed in an encounter with elite police forces in Sulu province on Sunday, police officials said. The death of Gafur Jumdail, reportedly the brother of Umbra Abu Jumdail, an Abu Sayyaf leader in Sulu, prompted PNP chief Director General Jesus Verzosa to place all police forces in Mindanao on full alert to prevent possible retaliatory attacks by the bandit group. “I have declared as Chief PNP, a full alert status of all PNP units in the offices in the whole Mindanao effective 12 noon September 5 against possible retaliatory terrorist actions of the [Abu Sayyaf]," Verzosa said. PNP spokesman Agrimero Cruz said Jumdail and two other Abu Sayyaf members were killed in an encounter in Barangay Lapa in Maimbung town. He said members of the PNP’s Special Action Force went to the area before Saturday midnight after confirming reports that Jumdail and Marwan, a member of the Southeast Asian terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah, were there. “Members of the PNP’s Special Action Force then chanced upon the group of Jumdail in Barangay Lapa in Maimbung town, triggering a brief clash that resulted in the death of the ASG leader and two of his men," Cruz said. The bodies of Jumbail and the two unidentified Abu Sayyaf members were found in the scene after the gun battle, Cruz said. Also recovered were an M14 rifle, an M16 rifle, a baby armalite, ammunition for several types of high-powered firearms, and subversive documents. The Abu Sayyaf is notorious for bombing attacks and was responsible for a number of high-profile kidnappings, including of foreigners, in the past. - KBK, GMANews.TV

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