GOVERNMENT troops are closing in on an Abu Sayyaf sub-leader and his cohorts who were behind Monday’s twin suicide bombings in Jolo, Sulu, Armed Forces chief Gen. Gilbert Gapay said yesterday.
Mundi Sawadjaan is said to be behind the explosions which killed 17 persons and injured at least 70 others. Sawadjaan, according to the military, convinced the wives of two slain Abu Sayyaf members leaders to become suicide bombers.
Gapay said the military has information on Sawadjaan’s whereabouts.
“Actually, we have troops operating in the area and we have also some information of their hideouts, their lairs and of course our forces in Sulu are operating in those target areas,” he said.
Gapay is confident the military will be able to apprehend Sawadjaan who masterminded similar suicide bombings in Sulu — one at the Mt. Carmel Cathedral in Jolo in January last year, that left 23 people dead, and the other at the headquarters of the Army’s 1st Brigade Combat Team in Indanan in June last year, which killed seven.
“We are confident that they are still in Sulu because immediately after the incident. We had a lockdown and right now we are guarding the borders and really controlling the entry and exit of people and resources in the process,” said Gapay.
Gapay said the perpetrators have been identified and “cases are now being built up against the perpetrators.” The two female suicide bombers are among the fatalities.
Gapay said the military is also looking at the logistics and support network of the Abu Sayyaf “and there are some leads.”
“We have identified some NGOs (non-government organizations, conduits and there are also evidence that manifest foreign funding… We are monitoring and we have some leads on their support system,” said Gapay.
Gapay said the military is coordination with the Anti-Money Laundering Council and other agencies in checking the accounts believed to be used in funneling funds to the Abu Sayyaf.
Lt. Gen. Corleto Vinluan, commander of the Zamboanga City-based Western Mindanao Command, said the suicide attacks were originally scheduled by the Abu Sayyaf on June 26 in the same area in Jolo.
Vinluan said the two suicide bombers had been the subject of an operation by Army intelligence personnel who were intercepted and later shot dead by policemen in Jolo on June 29. The NBI filed murder and planting of evidence charge against nine policemen for the soldiers’ death.
Vinluan said a week before the killing of the soldiers, troops raided the hideout of the two suicide bombers in Jolo but the bombers managed to escape. He said they also talked to local officials and residents about the plot.
“They didn’t execute (the June 26 plot), they got afraid,” said Vinluan. “They were supposed to execute it on June 26 but we preempted it,” he added.
“But they got an opportunity (last Monday) because there were a lot of people there, where they can mingle, there were many women who were having coffee,” said Vinluan.
Gapay said there is no need to declare martial law in Sulu, at least for now, in the aftermath of the suicide bombings while Vinluan said troops can address the Abu Sayyaf problem without martial law.
Gapay said the prevailing state of emergency in Mindanao, declared by President Duterte under Presidential Proclamation 55, and the Anti-Terrorism Act are enough to address the situation in the province.
Presidential Proclamation 55 was issued in September 2016 following the bombing at a night market in Davao City, the President’s hometown, that left 15 people dead and scores others injured. The Anti-Terrorism Act was signed by President Duterte last month.
“What we are proposing is strict implementation of Presidential Proclamation 55 which is still in effect,” said Gapay. The proclamation calls on the Armed Forces “to suppress lawless violence in the area,” he said.
”Another thing, we now have the Anti-Terror Law of 2020 which will be put to test since we already have a case now, we have the recent twin blast in Jolo,” Gapay also said.
Nevertheless, Gapay said declaration is an option.
Army chief Lt. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana recommended the declaration of martial law in Mindanao on Tuesday to bring back normalcy in Sulu. Sobejana’s proposal was supported by PNP chief Gen. Archie Gamboa.
Vinluan said, “We need not declare martial law here. We have a many successful templates (in the fight against the Abu Sayyaf).”
He said local government officials were also against the declaration of martial in the province.
In Zamboanga-Sibugay on Wednesday, an Abu Sayyaf sub-leader involved in numerous atrocities, including kidnapping and bombings, was arrested by the police in Mabuhay town.
Zamboanga regional police director Brig. Gen. Jesus Cambay Jr. Said Jamiul Nassalon, 41, was arrested by policemen, led by personnel of the Regional Intelligence Unit 9, at around 4 a.m. in Barangay Caliran by virtue of arrest warrants for serious illegal detention with ransom, murder and frustrated murder.
Nassalon, a resident of Zamboanga City, uses the aliases Ustad Amih, Abu Harris, Abu Janar, and Abu Jamih.
Police said Nassalon joined the Abu Sayyaf in 2009. He masterminded the kidnapping and beheading of Doroteo Gonzales in Zamboanga City in 2009 and was involved in the massacre of eight fishermen in 2017, bombing of a bus terminal in 2012, and strafing of a passenger bus in 2017, all in Zamboanga City.
