An alleged member of the terrorist Abu Sayyaf Group who took part in several high-profile kidnapping incidents was shot and killed by government security forces in Indanan, Sulu on Sunday.
Brig. Gen. Alan Arrojado, Joint Task Group Sulu commander, identified the slain bandit as Haber, alias Abu Qudama.
Haber died on the spot in Sitio Annur, Barangay Buanza, Indanan town at 1:03 a.m.
Arrojado said Haber belonged to an ASG faction under sub-leader Sibih Pisih, who operates in the municipalities of Indanan, Parang and Maimbung, all in Sulu.
The slain bandit had pending warrants for his arrest for his involvement in kidnappings in Sipadan in 2000 and the attack on an exclusive resort in Samal, Davao del Norte in May 2001.
He was among six armed men who raided the Sipadan resort off the east coast of Borneo and abducted 21 people, including tourists from Europe, South Africa and Lebanon and a Malaysian police officer on April 23, 2000.
The kidnappers also took with them nine other Malaysians and two Filipino resort workers and brought them to the island province of Jolo.
Around 20 suspected Abu Sayyaf members attacked the exclusive Pearl Farm resort in Samal Island on May 22, 2001 and killed two employees, wounding three.
Most recently, the ASG staged another kidnapping at the Oceanview resort on Samal island, taking two Canadian tourists, a Norwegian resort manager and a Filipino woman on September 2015.
Government forces have been hunting ASG leaders involved in the Sipadan kidnapping incident for years and eventually captured Ibni Acosta in Poblacion, Zamboanga City in August 2015.
The ASG is still holding at least nine hostages who are believed to be detained separately in the jungles in Sulu, a known hotbed of the notorious Muslim kidnap-for-ransom bandit group. With PNA