Defense chief: SAF members killed top Jemaah Islamiyah operative

MANILA, Philippines - The members of the police's Special Action Force (SAF) killed a top Jemaah Islamiyah operative before they were assaulted by Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) fighters in Mamasapano, Maguindanao on Sunday.

"The Maguindanao [incident] is a PNP operation of high-value [targets], as initial reports, they were able to neutralize one of them, 'Marwan' (Zulkifli bin Hir) although Basit Usman, managed to escape," the Philippine News Agency quoted Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin as saying on Monday.

Gazmin clarified that the government is still verifying the report through other sources.

Marwan, who is wanted by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation with a $15-million bounty, is reportedly behind the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), which has claimed responsibility for the spate of bombings in Maguindanao.

He had been reported killed in 2012, but no body was recovered until he resurfaced in Mindanao.

Earlier reports said the SAF members were serving a warrant of arrest for Marwan at the residence of a Muslim cleric named Imam Manan, a senior official of the MILF's 105th Base Command, in Barangay Tukanilap.

Local residents said MILF rebels attacked when the SAF members opened fire at the house of the cleric.

Reports also said that the BIFF ambushed the retreating SAF members in Barangay Mangapang.

Pope kill plot

Sources from the intelligence community confirmed having checked on the report that Marwan's alleged number one student in handling improvised explosives device (IED) traveled to Leyte ahead of the Pope’s Francis visit last January 17.

The suspect was supposed to carry out a terror plot during the Pope's visit in Tacloban City, but it was aborted because of the sudden change in the Roman Pontiff's schedule  due to Tropical Storm "Amang."

Aside from the information on the plan of Marvan's group, authorities also checked every information on supposed plans to disrupt the pope's visit in the Philippines last week.

From the Rajah Solaiman Movement, the Al-Qaeda linked Jemaah Islamiya to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the joint task force of military and police tasked to secure Pople Francis conducted round-the-clock verification of information, random checks and raids.

“We cannot let our guards down. We looked at all the information, validated all, dispatched people to make sure that nothing tragic will happen to the Pope,” said a top military official privy to the intensified security operations on the ground.

Among the groups monitored by the joint task force, included members of the Balik Islam group, the Rajah Solaiman Group and the Jemaah Islamiya, which gained notoriety during the Rizal Day attacks in 2000 and other atrocities as well as some personalities linked to the ISIS. 

On the day that Pope Francis arrived Manila on Jan. 15, security forces also looked into an extremist group, Boko Haram, said to be a terrorist, militant and Islamist movement based in Nigeria and linked to Al-Qaeda and ISIS.

Hours before the Pope’s arrival, intelligence operatives acted on a report that an alleged supporter of the ISIS identified as Nicasio Dajoyag was holed up in a house in Barangay Addition Hills in Mandaluyong City, but the police and military operatives came out empty handed.

Police and military teams were also dispatched at a reported Strike Wing School in Bulacan and Visayas Aerospeace School in Iloilo to verify reports about the presence of two Nigerian nationals believed to be part of Boko Haram.

Three days prior to the Pope’s arrival on January 15, joint police and military operatives swooped down on various alleged safe houses in eastern and southern parts of Metro Manila that resulted in the arrest of suspects Norberto Paranga Jr., Justo Sultan and Robert Raton.

“The preempted operation under Oplan Lambat-Sibat was conducted to eliminate all probable threats against the Pope and his delegation,” documents showed. 

The military and police received information that Paranga was planning to launch a “test mission in January 2015,” which coincides with the papal visit.

Paranga is a bemedaled military officer, who earned intensified training, including VIP protection, intelligence-gathering and marksmanship, apparently before he went ashtray from military service.  The arrests were conducted under the so-called Operation Plan Lambat-Sibat.

His name earlier surfaced in an alleged plot to bomb the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on September 2014. - with reports from Christina Mendez