One of the four known Malaysian fugitives currently hiding out in southern Philippines has reportedly been killed by government forces in a military attack on Tuesday.
According to initial media reports, the Malaysian could be Mohd Najib Hussein, 38, alias Abu Anas, a former photostat shop owner who became a key member of former University of Malaya professor Dr. Mahmud Ahmad IS-affiliated Black Flag cell, Philippines local English daily inquirer.net reports.
The group which also included Selayang council worker Muhammad Joraimee, 39 as well as Sabahans Mohd Amin Baco, 31, and Jeknal Adil have been hiding out with the Abu Sayyaf in southern Philippines since escaping Malaysian authorities in July last year when they fled the country.
The Philippine military has identified them as bomb makers using the Abu Sayyaf hideouts in Basilan and Jolo islands as base for IS operatives in Southeast Asia.
"Although no official confirmation was available from the initial intelligence report as the bodies of those killed was not recovered, Filipino sources said a Malaysian terrorist involved in running a “IED SME” (Improvised Explosive Device, Small Medium Enterprise) factory was in the area of the Abu Sayyaf lair during Tuesday’s military attack," the inquirer.net report states.
News reports place the clash between the Abu Sayyaf bandits and government military foreces at 5pm on Tuesday which also killed two soldiers and injured another ten in what was the third day of fighting between the Abu Sayyaf and government troops composed of the Scout Rangers and the Philippine Marines.
“It has been ongoing for three day. It was on Tuesday that the major skirmishes happened.
“It was an encounter with the Abu Sayyaf Group. It is a focused military operation.
"Prior to this, there was an intelligence operation that led to the identification of the ASG lair,” Major Filemon Tan, spokesperson of the Western Mindanao Command said.
Tan said combined elements of the 104th Army Brigade, the 3rd Scout Ranger Battalion, 4th Special Forces Battalion, Marine Special Operations Group and the 12th Light Armor Cavalry, were conducting “focused operation” against a suspected Abu Sayyaf encampment in Barangay Macalang when they clashed with a still undetermined number of bandits, inquirer.net reports.
However, no bodies have been recovered by the authorities yet and official confirmation of the Malaysian's death is still pending.
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