US forensic experts confirm corpse was Abu Sayyaf chieftain


dpa German Press Agency
Published: Saturday January 20, 2007

Manila- United States forensic experts have confirmed that
the corpse recovered in a shallow grave on a southern island was the
chieftain of al-Qaeda-linked Muslim Abu Sayyaf rebels, the Philippine
military chief said Saturday.
Armed force chief General Hermogenes Esperon said the decomposing
body found last month on Jolo island, 1,000 kilometres south of
Manila, was Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffi Janjalani.

Esperon said that the DNA sample of the corpse suspected to be
that of the Abu Sayyaf chieftain matched with Janjalani's brother,
Hector who is detained at a jail in the Philippine capital.

Janjalani, included in the United States' most wanted list of
terrorists, was believed to have died from wounds suffered during an
encounter with soldiers in Patikul town on Jolo.

The US has offered 5 million dollars for information that would
lead to the arrest and prosecution of Janjalani, who took over the
helm of the Abu Sayyaf after his elder brother, Abu Sayyaf founder
Abubakar Abdurajak, died in December 1998.

Janjalani has been indicted in US courts for alleged involvement
in terrorist attacks, including the kidnapping of three American
hostages, two of whom were killed in captivity.

Other attacks that the Abu Sayyaf committed during his leadership
were the bombing of a ferry off a Manila port in 2004, killing more
than 100 people, and the kidnapping of 21 Western tourists and Asian
workers from the Malaysian resort island of Sipadan in 2000.

Earlier in the week another senior Abu Sayyaf leader, Abu
Solaiman, was killed in a clash with marines in the hinterlands of
Talipao also on Jolo island.

Some 1,500 more marines were to be deployed next week in the
nearby island of Basilan to boost the relentless military operations
against the Abu Sayyaf on Jolo.

© 2006 - dpa German Press Agency