CEBU CITY – A member of the Abu Sayyaf Group was killed a few hours after he attempted to escape from authorities who were supposed to send him to the Bohol Provincial Jail.
Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 director Chief Supt. Noli Taliño said policemen were escorting ASG man Abu Saad Kiram to the provincial jail when the bandit allegedly was able to momentarily run away from his captors.
Initial reports reveal a pursuit lasted for about three hours which saw Kiram ending up dead from gunshot wounds to the head and body after he was said to be cornered.
Kiram was arrested Thursday morning while having breakfast in Tubigon, Bohol
The Commission on Human Rights however raised doubts about the manner Kiram was killed and wants to conduct an inquiry.
“It creates doubt on why he died when he was supposedly safe in the hands of our law enforcers,” said CHR 7 director Arvin Odron.
Taliño expressed their readiness to face any inquiry regarding the bandit’s death.
Meantime, the ASG bandits who already surrendered have reached 23 when 19 of them gave up as a result of an all-out offensives by the Joint Task Forces of the Western Mindanao Command (WestMinCom) in the provinces of Basilan and Sulu.
In a statement, Captain Jo-Ann D. Petinglay, the spokeswoman of the AFP Western Mindanao Command, said sub-leaders Nur Hassan Lahaman alias Hassan and leader Mudz-Ar Angkun alias Mapad Ladjaman together with 13 other followers surrendered to the troops of the 64th Infantry Battalion in Brgy. Tumahubong, Sumisip, Basilan Province.
In a simple turn-over ceremony, the ASG surrenderees yielded nine high powered firearms that include a cal .50 sniper rifle, an M16 rifle, an M79 40mm grenade launcher, five garand rifles, and a Cal. 30 springfield rifle.
All 19 Abu Sayyaf fighters who surrendered in Basilan are now undergoing processing and debriefing by the Basilan Provincial Police Office.
Just seven days ago, four ASG members also surrendered to the Joint Task Force Sulu under the leadership of Brigadier General Cirilito Sobejana in Sulu Province.
Since January this year, a total of 40 Abu Sayyaf members, five of them in Sulu, 24 in Basilan, and 11 in Tawi-Tawi, already surrendered to the government forces, most of them also turning over their firearms and ammunition.
(With a report from Francis T. Wakefield) (MARS W. MOSQUEDA, JR.)