Philippines troops killed four Abu Sayyaf militants in a gun battle on Sunday in the country’s south, including a commander charged with beheadings and a suspected would-be suicide bomber, military officials said.
Army troops supported by police were to serve a warrant for the arrest of Injam Yadah at his home after midnight in Alat village in Jolo town in Sulu province when he and his men opened fire. That triggered a gun battle that killed the militants, said regional commander Lt Gen Corleto Vinluan, Jr.
Yadah had been accused by the military of involvement in the kidnappings for ransom of Filipinos and foreigners, including eight Indonesian fishermen who were kidnapped at sea off Malaysia in early 2020 and brought to the southern Philippines.
“He had a reputation for being extremely violent, beheading captured innocent civilians and security forces alike,” a military commander Major General William Gonzales said of Yadah.
Yadah had also been linked to the 2015 abduction of four people, including two Canadian tourists. The Canadians were separately beheaded by their Abu Sayyaf kidnappers, including Mujir Yadah, a brother of Injam after a deadline for ransom payment lapsed, a military official said.
Another Abu Sayyaf militant killed in Sunday’s fight was al-Al Sawadjaan, a bomb-maker, and would-be suicide bomber, according to Lt Col Wilfredo Borgonia, an army infantry battalion commander.
Troops retrieved a rifle, a pistol, bomb parts, and 15 cell phones. They also took into the custody of Yadah’s wife and three children, the military said in a statement.
