21 January 2016•Update: 21 January 2016
By Roy Ramos
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines
Seven members of an al-Qaeda linked militant group in the Philippines’ Muslim south came down from the mountains of Basilan province Thursday and turned themselves in to the military.
Richard Falcatan, manager of local radio station dxNO, told Anadolu Agency that the Abu Sayaf members who surrendered were led by Sulaiman Kasaran and handed over their assault rifles to the 18th Infantry Batallion in Ungkaya Pukan town.
Falcatan quoted battalion officers as saying that Kasaran had operated under Bashir Kasaran and Lukman Kasaran until they died in encounters with their longtime "rido" – or vengeance killing – enemy, the Malatin clan headed by a late local leader of the country’s one-time largest rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
Falcatan said the surrender was a result of "persistent government initiatives through the inter-agency efforts of the AFP [Armed Forces Philippines] and Taskforce Kasanyangan.
"According to the military, those who surrendered Thursday had been operating in Albarka town, and were equipped with high-powered firearms and trained in bomb-making, “radicalism” and military combat tactics.
They are also associated with other notorious Abu Sayyaf leaders including Isnilon Hapilon, who carries a U.S. bounty of $5 million on his head and appeared in a video posted on YouTube last year pledging allegiance to Daesh.
Col. Rolando Joselito Bautista, 104th Army Brigade chief, was quoted by the Philippine Star as saying that three of those who surrendered alongside Sulaiman Kasaran are his sons.
Basilan is one of two southern Philippine island provinces known to be strongholds of the Abu Sayyaf, where government forces have been conducting offensives against the fighters notorious for engaging in kidnappings, extortion and killings of soldiers and police.
Since 1991, the group – armed with mostly improvised explosive devices, mortars and automatic rifles – has also carried out bombings and assassinations in a self-determined fight for an independent Islamic province in the Philippines.It is notorious for beheading victims after ransoms have failed to be paid for their release.
