Military backtracks, confirms MILF tale on Usman killing

From the Business Mirror (May 6): Military backtracks, confirms MILF tale on Usman killing

THE military backtracked on Wednesday from its earlier tale that terrorist bomber Abdul Basit Usman was killed by his security personnel by officially admitting that it was the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) that got the Jema’ah Islamiyah-trained bomb expert.

“After our verification, we have learned that Basit Usman entered an MILF area. Elements from the MILF then accosted him so that he can be brought to the MILF Central Committee. However, Basit Usman resisted, triggering a firefight that resulted in his death,” according to a  brief official statement from the office of Lt. Col. Harold Cabunoc, chief of the Armed Forces Public Affairs Office.

The statement was issued a day after military spokesman Brig. Joselito Kakilala said the Armed Forces was conducting an investigation in order to determine how Usman was killed and which forces really killed him, despite the statement on Monday by the Armed Forces chief of staff, Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang Jr., that some of Usman’s personal security, who were after the $1-million reward offered out of his head, were the ones who killed him.

Catapang added, though, that they were still looking into Usman’s killing.

“Reports reaching this headquarters revealed that Usman and five of his unidentified cohorts were killed in a shootout allegedly with fellow members of his group in Sitio Takeneken, Barangay Muti, Guindulungan, Maguindanao, at about 10 a.m.,” Catapang said on Monday.

He added that Usman’s killing by some members of his own security team was fueled by the “tussle for the huge monetary reward that was put on his head.”

“There was an infighting among his bodyguards, because you know, we were able to kill his most trusted bodyguards and he got about seven, when he got killed. But these bodyguards were not the most loyal to him, and there was an infighting among them,” said Catapang.

Catapang said sitio Takeneken, where Usman’s group shot each other was near Camp Afghan, a temporary relocation site for members of the MILF, who voluntarily vacated their homes during the all-out offensive against members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) in February.

He said that it was MILF members who first responded to the scene and they saw the body of the terrorist and four others, and they also recovered an M-60 machine gun, a grenade launcher and a 5.56mm Bushmaster rifle.

“There was a shootout among them [Usman’s group] and when the MILF heard it, they came to the area and that’s what happened, there was also, I am not sure if there was also a shootout with the MILF. But what we heard is that the MILF also got the firearms of Usman,” Catapang said.

However, on Tuesday MILF vice chairman for political affairs Ghadzali Jaafar belied the story of Catapang and said it was their men who killed the terrorist and four of his men.

He said members of the MILF’s 118th Base Command were supposed to take Usman to the MILF’s central committee as ordered by the MILF’s leadership, but while they were on the way, the terrorist got wary of the reasons why he was being taken to the central committee.

“It was there that Usman did a drastic action that resulted in a firefight,” said Jaafar.

Jaafar said MILF gunmen killed Usman, but the terrorist’s security escorts managed to take away his body and buried him.

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/military-backtracks-confirms-milf-tale-on-usman-killing/