MILITARY BRACES FOR POSSIBLE SAYYAF RETALIATORY ATTACKS
ISABELA CITY, BASILAN, December 23, 2004 (STAR) By Roel Pareño — Armed Forces’ Southern Command chief Lt. Gen. Alberto Braganza said yesterday the military is prepared for possible retaliatory attacks from the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf following the reported death of its leader Khaddafy Janjalani."I am not bothered," Braganza said, adding that the threat of retaliatory attacks will not deter the military offensive against the bandit group. He has vowed "to go all out against the remnants of the Abu Sayyaf."
Braganza visited Janjalani’s parent, Abubakar and Vilma, at their home in Barangay Tabuk here shortly after receiving the report of the Abu Sayyaf chieftain’s death to condole with the family.
He said they are still in the process of verifying the information, although they have received the same report following the air-strike last Nov. 19 in Datu Piang in which the young Janjalani was believed slain.
"We will get (the Abu Sayyaf) one by one in our relentless operation," he said. "I am always on my toes as Southcom commander. Our troops are always prepared to protect Mindanao and the community."
According to Braganza, a former Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) member informed 604th Brigade Chief Col. Jerry Jalandoni that Janjalani was killed in the air-strike.
He said the informant told Jalandoni that Janjalani’s body was buried somewhere in Mamasapano, Maguindanao.
"The first information we have after the Nov. 19 air-strike in Datu Piang (indicates that) a former MILF member informed our ground commander that Janjalani was killed," Braganza said.
The Southcom chief said they are collating all the information, including what Janjalani’s ailing father and mother told him during his visit to their home.
Braganza said troops have been verifying the report and the possible areas where the remains could have been buried. However, there has been no further information on the matter.
"Whether the information is true or not, the burden is on the Abu Sayyaf to prove it if (Janjalani) is alive," he said. "Primarily, my visit there is to check (on Janjalani’s) parents, who are sick, and pay my respects."
Braganza also confirmed reports that while Janjalani was fighting in the mountains, the bandit leader sent feelers for his surrender.
"The information that I got earlier is that while Janjalani was fighting it out there, he also had intentions of going back to the fold of the law," Braganza said.
Janjalani is one of the three remaining leaders of the Abu Sayyaf wanted by the US government, which offered a $5-million bounty reward for Janjalani’s capture or neutralization.
Two other Abu Sayyaf leaders for whom bounties are offered by both the US and Philippine governments are Isnilon Hapilon and Jainal Antel Sali alias Abu Solaiman. The two others — Aldam Tilao alias Abu Sabaya and Hamsiraji Sali alias Jose Ramirez — were neutralized in the separate military operations.
Hapilon is reportedly hiding in Datu Piang, where the military launched last month the intensive air-strike that slew Janjalani. There have been no reports about Hapilon’s fate after the air-strike.
The elder Janjalani confirmed that two unidentified men who claimed to have come from Sulu reported to him that Janjalani had been killed in an air-strike.
"They came here to inform me that my son was killed (and had been dead) for two weeks now in an encounter in Sulu," Abubakar Janjalani said.
The elder Janjalani told Braganza this with mixed emotions, saying he wished that he had died instead of his son, whom he described as a good and obedient son.
"I am tired and weak and suffering from various complications, I really felt depressed over all these losses in my family," the 75-year father said in the Tausug dialect to Braganza, who visited him at his dilapidated house located just a few meters away from the mosque where the Janjalani family prayed.
Khaddafy Janjalani had taken over the leadership of the Abu Sayyaf after his elder brother, Abdurajak, was killed in a clash with the military
"I don’t believe that my son was bad, he went to the mountain and was only made a flower vase by these rebels," Janjalani said.
He said the death of his son has bothered and ruined his life and dislocated family.
Braganza said he is ready to give medical assistance to the ailing Janjalani patriarch.
Neither the military nor Malacañang could confirm the reported death of the Abu Sayyaf leader, though AFP chief of staff Gen. Efren Abu said the military will consider Janjalani alive until his body is recovered.
Other military assets, Abu said, insist that Janjalani is still alive. If it is proven that the Abu Sayyaf leader is dead, however, Abu said this proof would bode well for the military campaign against the bandit group.
One of the military’s "informants" claimed Janjalani’s "body was severed (cut in half)" during the air-strike on a rebel hideout near the Liguasan Marsh in Mindanao.
On Nov. 19, Air Force MG520 attack helicopters launched bombing raids on Butilen marsh in Datu Piang. The attack was mounted in response to an intelligence report that Janjalani was meeting with operatives of the al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah in Butilen.
Janjalani was reportedly felled by a direct hit during the air-strike. His body was put inside a plastic bag, then in a wooden box, and brought to barangay Pamalian in the town of Mamasapano, reports said.
Reported by: Sol Jose Vanzi
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by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
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