Palace, AFP confirm death of Abu Solaiman

Abu Sayyaf leader Abu Solaiman is dead, Palace and military officials said on Wednesday. According to Armed Forces of the Philippines information chief Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro, the death of Jainal Antel Sali Jr alias Abu Solaiman was confirmed by a witness who identified the body recovered after Tuesday’s encounter with Army troops in Talipao, Sulu. "Confirmed na siya yun. May nag-identify," Bacarro said, showing mediamen a photo of the slain man. This was echoed by Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita in Malacanang. "He is dead. D-E-D. Dead," Ermita told reporters in a news conference. "This is part of Oplan Ultimatum of the AFP. This shows that government operations against the Abu Sayyaf Group is successful... They continue to be weakened. We are succeeding in our counter-insurgency operations." "With constant action of our Special Forces and the Rangers and Marines, it would not be long before we can account for significant persons in the Abu Sayyaf Group. This would lead in to JI members Dulmatek..." he added. The body of the slain rebel was brought to the headquarters of the 104th Brigade in Busbus, Jolo. Army Special Forces commander Brig. Gen. Arturo Ortiz said that Solaiman's identity was confirmed through their civilians assets, the presence of a mole near one eye and dental records. In the Palace interview, Ermita also took the time to praise the RP-US joint war games "Balikatan" saying that this was the result of the training exercise. "This is also a collateral effect of the Balikatan, which has provided the AFP with training, armaments and technical and human intelligence support. It has provided training and equipment to our AFP lilke night vision sniper rifles…these are the favorable effects of the exercise Balikatan," he said. Sali is the self-proclaimed Abu Sayyaf spokesman included in the US list of most wanted Abu Sayyaf leaders and was implicated in the kidnapping and killing of California man Guillermo Sobero in 2001 and Kansas missionary Martin Burnham in 2002. Gracia Burnham was eventually rescued in 2002 in a firefight in Zamboanga del Norte province. Sali was also linked to the kidnapping of US citizen Jeffrey Craig Schilling in 2000 in Jolo island. Schilling was held hostage for more than seven months by the Abu Sayyaf and during his captivity, some of the demands made by the Abu Sayyaf were the release of international terrorist Ramsey Yousef and the blind Muslim cleric Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman from US prison, the withdrawal of American forces from the Middle East and the payment of $10 million in ransom. Schilling eventually managed to escape from captivity on April 12, 2001. A US government dossier on Sali said he had planned and perpetrated several brutal acts of terrorism involving kidnapping US and foreign nationals and bombing civilian targets. In April 2004, Sali helped supervise members of the Abu Sayyaf's Urban Terror Group for planned bombing activities. Filipino authorities filed charges against Sali and two other leaders for their involvement in a series of bombings in October 2002 in Zamboanga City that killed at least a dozen Filipino civilians, an American soldier and the wounding of more than 200 others. Sali also headed the unit responsible for the October 17, 2002, bombings of two department stores in Zamboanga City. He also planned the May 2001 Dos Palmas resort kidnapping in Palawan where they took 20 hostages, including the Burnhams and Sobero. In January 2002, Sali made statements during a radio interview denouncing the arrival of US military advisors in the Philippines to participate in joint military exercises with the Armed Forces of the Philippines designed to locate and combat the Abu Sayyaf and rescue the hostages. Sali held several senior positions of influence within the Abu Sayyaf. In February 2002, the US indicted Sali and four other Abu Sayyaf leaders. Three years later, Sali accompanied Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani and another senior leader Isnilon Hapilon to a meeting in the southern Philippines with senior leaders of Jema’ah Islamiyah, said to be the regional arm of the al-Qaeda terror network in Southeast Asia. - GMANews.TV