LAST 2 SAYYAF IN BOHOL KILLED
Abu Ubayda and 17-year-old Abu Asis shot dead while trying to flee from troops in Pangangan Island, Calape, Bohol Local residents worried about reprisals from the Abu Sayyaf as Asis was allegedly a direct descendant of a Basilan sultan
After more than a month of pursuit, government troops killed the last two Abu Sayyaf members in Barangay Lawis, Pangangan Island, Calape, Bohol yesterday afternoon.
The first to fall past noon was Abu Ubayda, who was armed with an M16 rifle.
Ubayda and 17-year-old Abu Asis reportedly accosted a man and his grandson, asking for food. They were ushered into the man's house where they were fed.
But the man was able to leave the house and report their presence to government troops in the island, which forced Ubayda and Asis to flee.
One of them, believed to be Asis, was forced to leave a motorcycle he grabbed after troops set up several checkpoints in the area.
And while they were escaping, one of them, believed to be Ubayda, hit an 82-year-old man in the head with the butt of his rifle. The victim required five stitches. Troops caught up with Ubayda first, and killed him. They wounded Asis in the back, but the latter was still able to elude arrest.
Scene of the crime operatives had a hard time identifying Ubayda's body at first because the face was badly deformed.
"Other identification suggests that the dead body may belong to Abu Ubayda because of the ring that he is wearing," a police source said.
Around 5:35 p.m., Asis was gunned down in Barangay Lawis.
The .45 pistol authorities believed Asis was carrying was recovered in the scene.
Ubayda and Asis wore dark clothes and were noticeably thinner compared to the photos the military had released.
The two were sighted last Wednesday in the island on a stolen boat from mainland Calape.
Calape Mayor Nelson Yu, in a live interview with radio dyLA, said the whole island of Pangangan was on lockdown during the entire encounter, with the troops conducting a cordon.
Yu said that residents were advised to stay in their homes. They were not evacuated, he said.
Despite the deaths of Ubayda and Asis, residents were still wor- ried about possible retaliation from the Jihadist terror group because Asis was allegedly a direct descendant of a sultan in Basilan
"We fear that they might do us harm after what happened to Asis," a resident told SunStar Cebu on Facebook.
On April 11, three pumpboats with 11 Abu Sayyaf members docked in the river in Sitio Ilaya, Barangay Napo, Inabanga, Bohol.
The first clash lasted almost 24 hours before government troops managed to kill sub-leader Abu Rami and three others.
The government side also lost three soldiers and one Special Weapons and Tactics personnel.
More than 3,000 residents were evacuated.
On April 22, the terrorists' local guide Joselito Melloria and three others were killed during an encounter in Sitio Lagising, Barangay Bacane, Clarin,, which is 11.5 kilometers from Inabanga.
Saad Samad Kiram was captured in Tubigon last May 4.
He was the only terrorist who was arrested. Twenty-one hours later, though, he was killed after he allegedly tried to escape.