Wanted Sayyaf member surrenders to P’pine military

KOTA KINABALU: An Abu Sayyaf member believed involved in a series of hijackings and kidnappings in waters off Sabah, has returned to the fold of the law.

A Philippine military report reaching here said Nassae Lokbao, No. 7 on the military’s periodic status report watchlist of the Abu Sayyaf, surrendered to Marines in an island village off Languyan town in Tawi-Tawi.

“Lokbao surenderred to the Marine Battalion Landing Team 6 at Tahaw Island in Barangay Darul Akram last week but information was only made public recently due to the-up operations, “ 2nd Marine Brigade Deputy Commander Col. Hermanie Songano stationed in Bongao said.

He said the rebel returnee is a native of Indanan town in Sulu province and a former follower of slain Abu Sayyaf kidnap-for-ransom leader Abraham Hamid.

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“Hamid’s group was behind hijackings in waters off Lahad Datu-Semporna in 2016,” he revealed adding that Lokbao surrendered his M1 Garland rifle with a clip of ammunition.

In a related development, Philippine security forces have killed a Abu Sayyaf bomb expert in a clash in a remote village in southern Philippine province Sulu, a military spokesman said last Wednesday.

Maj. Arvin Encinas, the spokesperson of the Philippine military’s Western Mindanao Command, identified the slain terrorist as Nanz Sawadjaan, the younger brother of Abu Sayyaf sub-leader Hatib Hajan Sawadjaan.

“He was one of the Abu Sayyaf bomb experts who produced the improvised explosive devices used in the recent suicide bombing incidents in Sulu,” Encinas said.

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The Armed Forces of the Philippines Joint Task Force Sulu commander Brig. Gen. Corleto Vinluan said the killing of Sawadjaan on Tuesday (Sept 10) “is a great loss” to the group, adding his death “will debilitate the current strategy employed by the group in creating havoc in the province.”

Two soldiers were wounded in Tuesday’s clash between Philippine security forces and around 40 Abu Sayyaf fighters in a remote village in Patikul town of Sulu province.

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