Philippine army commandos raided the jungle lair of a small band of al Qaeda-linked Islamist militants on a remote island today, targeting a rebel leader wanted in the United States, the army said.
Dozens of US-trained special forces commandos dropped from helicopters after a barrage of rocket fire on southern island Sacol at dawn, army spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Randolph Cabangbang told reporters.
“We launched a surgical strike against Khair Mundos, Puruji Indama and 15 other Islamist militants after their presence on the island was confirmed last night,” Cabangbang said, adding the militants’ lair was at the heart of the wooded and marshy island.
“The operations are still ongoing,” he said. “We haven’t heard from our troops on the ground.”
Cabangbang said Mundos, who escaped from prison in February 2007, had taken over small Islamist militant group Abu Sayyaf on Basilan island. The US State Department has offered a reward of up to US$500,000 (RM1.52 million) for his capture.
Mundos has teamed up with kidnap-for-ransom gang leader Puruji Indanan to abduct local traders, teachers and students to raise funds for the Islamist militants, Cabangbang said.
Abu Sayyaf, with an estimated strength of about 300 fighters, has been blamed for bombings, kidnappings and beheadings in the troubled south of the mainly Catholic state.
Since 2002, US troops have been helping train and advise Filipino troops fight Islamist militants, and Abu Sayyaf has been mostly contained in recent years.
Mundos was arrested in May 2004 and during his trial confessed to arranging the transfer of funds from al Qaeda contacts in the Middle East to Khadaffy Janjalani, an Abu Sayyaf leader who was killed in late 2006 on Jolo island.
Mundos said the money was used to purchase speedboats used in the kidnapping of 20 foreign tourists in a beach resort in eastern Malaysian state Sabah in April 2000.
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