Marines kill Abu Sayyaf sub-leader in Sulu

Troops killed a sub-leader of the Abu Sayyaf group in an encouter in Sulu late Saturday.

Brigadier General Cirilito Sobejana, commander of Joint Task Force Sulu, said Abu Sayyaf sub-leader Bagong Muktadil was killed by Marines in a clash off Barangay Silangkan, Parang town around midnight.

Sobejana said the task force's fleet Marine forces encountered Muktadil's group on board a Jungkong-type watercraft.

He said the operation was conducted after the task force was informed by residents of the Abu Sayyaf's presence in the area.

The bandit's body has been brought to a hospital in Jolo town.

Sobejana said Muktadil's group is believed to be behind the seajacking of a Taiwanese vessel off Pearl Bank in Tawi-Tawi last February and the abduction of a Taiwanese national in November 2013. —ALG, GMA News