Military confirms Abu Solaiman died in Sulu clash

The military on Wednesday confirmed the death of ranking Abu Sayyaf leader Jainal Antel Sali Jr., alias “Abu Solaiman,” after a fierce clash with government troops Tuesday in Sulu.

Sources from the Joint Task Force Comet under Brig. Gen. Ruben Rafael said troops recovered the body of Sali from Mt. Daho, Talipao town and had been positively identified.

Brig. Gen.Arturo Ortiz, chief of the Army Special Forces, said civilian assets and intelligence operatives confirmed to him that it was Sali’s body that was recovered based on a mole on the corpse’s eyelid and teeth placements.

Earlier military reports said Sali was badly wounded during an encounter with troops from the 8th Special Forces Company, but fled into the jungles of Talipao with 60 fully armed followers, one of them was killed and some others were wounded.

Army Major Eugene Batara, spokesman for the Western Mindanao Command (WesMinCom), also said soldiers raided and captured Sali’s camp that can accommodate more or less sixty troops in Mt. Dahu, Talipao.

Soldiers recovered from the captured camp several Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), blasting caps, grenade launcher ammunitions, testers, soldering irons, medical paraphernalia, various personal belongings and voluminous terrorist documents.

Sali carried a $5-million bounty on his head from the US government. His body is reportedly being kept at Camp Teodulfo Bautista in Jolo, Sulu, headquarters of the 104th Army Brigade.

US is helping the Philippine government identify the remains of a man said to be the elusive Khadaffy Janjalani, chieftain of the Al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf terror group.

American and Filipino forensics experts were now working on DNA samples to establish whether the body was that of Janjalani. The decomposing body was recovered from a shallow grave in Patikul town early this year.

Janjalani has been reported killed several times in the past, only to embarrass the government by launching deadly terror attacks.

Meanhile troops are continuing to hunt down Janjalani’s Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) cohorts, Umar Patek and Dulmatin, whom Abu Sayyaf militants are believed to be protecting on the island province of Sulu.

Both men are wanted for the October 2002 bombings in Bali, Indonesia, in which 202 mostly foreign tourists were killed. JI and the Abu Sayyaf are both on the US government's list of foreign terrorist organizations. (HG)