From the Philippine Star (May 6): Saranggani cops prepare for terrorists' reprisals
Authorities are anticipating possible retaliations by a fanatical jihadist group that lost a senior member in a shootout with police on Wednesday.
Superintendent Romeo Galgo, Jr., spokesman of the Police Regional Office-12 (PRO-12), told The STAR on Saturday the slain Jukarno Espadilla of the Ansa’r Al-Khilafa Philippines (AKP) also had links with the Abu Sayyaf.
The AKP and the Abu Sayyaf both boast of loyalty to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and are using the black ISIS flag as their revolutionary banners.
Espadilla was shot dead by policemen who tried to serve him a warrant for his arrest when he pulled out a grenade as they entered his hideout in Barangay Badtasan in Kiamba, Sarangani before dawn Wednesday.
He was a henchman of the founder of AKP, Mohammad Jaafar Maguid, now facing criminal cases in different courts in central Mindanao.
Agents of PRO-12 had killed six key followers of Maguid, among them a Sudanese bomb-maker, in a continuing crackdown that started in late 2016.
Galgo said units of PRO-12 are now guarding against possible retaliations by groups sympathetic to Espadilla.
He said there is a possibility that the AKP will avenge his death.
"We are not taking chances. Our units will do everything to thwart any such move from them," Galgo said.
Investigators found in Espadilla's possession a mobile phone with exchanges of text messages between him and Joselito Melloria, an alleged Abu Sayyaf member based in Bohol province in the Visayas region.
Galgo said the target of Wednesday’s operation in Barangay Badtasan was Espadilla and a companion, Bashir Sahak, also wanted for heinous offenses.
Sahak escaped when he sensed that policemen were approaching their lair from different directions, leaving Espadilla behind.
http://www.philstar.com/nation/2017/05/06/1697291/saranggani-cops-prepare-terrorists-reprisals
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