A high-ranking member of the al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf Group was killed while evading arrest in Sulu on Monday, police said.
The Sulu Provincial Police Office said a composite police team, acting on an arrest warrant issued by Pasig Regional Trial Court Branch 46, managed to track Fraser Hajan to Sitio Luwas, Barangay Nunukan in Parang town.
The team consisted of members of the 52nd Special Action Company and provincial police.
"Subject resisted arrest and fired his pistol against operatives," police said. Hajan was wounded and was brought to a hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival.
Recovered from Hajan were a .45 caliber pistol, 14 rounds of .45 caliber ammunition, 44 rounds of 5.56 caliber ammunition, a spy cam, cellphone, and documents from the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), among others.
Hajan is believed to have been involved in the 2000 kidnapping of American Jeffrey Schilling, who was accused of being a CIA agent.
Schilling was rescued by the military after a brief
encounter with his kidnappers on April 12, 2001 in Luuk, Sulu.
The Abu Sayyaf is a loosely-organized bandit group of Islamic fundamentalists that has links with the al Qaeda terrorist network.
It has been blamed for the kidnapping and beheading of foreigners and locals and attacks against civilians.
It has been blamed for the kidnapping and beheading of foreigners and locals and attacks against civilians.
The Abu Sayyaf was founded in the early 1990s by Abdurrajak Janjalani, a former member of the MNLF who had trained in Afghanistan.
The notion of Schilling having been a CIA agent is laughable. Abu Sayyaf leader Abu Sabaya (now deceased whose real name was Aldam Tilao) reportedly accused Shilling of being a CIA agent, probably as justification for kidnapping the poor guy.
ReplyDeleteWhat is really strange about the whole Schilling incident is the role of his fiancé/girlfriend/wife, Ivy Osani. Osani was reportedly a cousin of Abu Sabaya and was said to have been the widow of an ASG rebel who purportedly was a nephew of Aburajak Janjalani, the founder of the ASG and the older brother of Khadaffi. Osani is the one who reportedly convinced Schilling to travel to Jolo to meet with Khaddafi Janjalani.
But Osani may have been more that just linked to the ASG by blood and marriage. In a little publicized incident, Ivy Osani was arrested with Khadaffi Janjalani and four other ASG members while in the possession of weapons in Cebu in February 1997. Janjalani and Osani were said to have been released on bail.
Some might find it more than just coincidence that given her past association with the ASG, Osani was able to strike up a relationship with an American through the Internet, convince him to come to Zamboanga, and then persuade him to travel to Jolo where he was subsequently kidnapped by Janjalani and her cousin, Abu Sabaya. Very strange indeed.