Marwan’s coddler captured
Leader of Muslim rebel splinter group linked to SAF44 carnage, bombings
The leader of a new Muslim rebel splinter group, linked to the Mamasapano carnage, more than a dozen bombings and beheading of a farmer as well as accused of protecting two terror suspects, was captured Sunday night in General Santos City.
Mohammad Ali Tambako, head of the newly formed Justic for Islamic Movement (JIM), was arrested with five of his followers while aboard a tricycle in Barangay Calumpang, General Santos City.
“Tambako was fleeing when he was arrested,” said Lt. Col. Harold
Cabunoc, head of the military public affairs office.
“They were on their way to a sea port in General Santos ... armed with hand guns and grenades.”
The police and the military operatives arrested Tambako, a native of Mamasapano, Maguindanao, and his associates –Mesharie Gayak, Datukan-Sabiwang, Ali Luydisma, Ibrahim Kapina, and Abusama Guiamel – on the strength of an arrest warrant issued by Regional Trial Court Judge Jorge Jabido for their alleged involvement in the killing and bombing of civilians in Midsayap, North Cotabato, in 2010. They yielded fragmentation grenades and several handguns.
Tambako, who formed JIM with about 70 armed fighters last year, has been suspected by the military of giving refuge in his southern stronghold to top Malaysian terror suspect Zulkifli bin Hir, also known as Marwan, and long-wanted Filipino bombing suspect Abdul Basit Usman.
The United States and the Philippines have offered huge rewards for the capture and prosecution of Marwan and Usman. Marwan was reportedly killed in a Jan. 25 raid by Philippine National Police-Special Action Force (PNP-SAF) commandos in the marshy heartland of Mamasapano in Maguindanao. The FBI said in February that DNA analysis suggested that Marwan was the militant killed by the SAF commandos but it added additional tests were needed to confirm his death.
The operation to neutralize Marwan and Usman left 44 police commandos dead in an ensuing gun battle with members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), and private armed groups, including Tambako’s JIM. That prompted the military last month to launch an offensive against the BIFF and other armed groups that has killed about 100 suspected insurgents and led to the capture of Tambako.
Before forming JIM, Tambako was vice chairman for military affairs of the BIFF under Ustadz Ameril Umbra Kato. However, he was expelled last year from the BIFF, along with 30 of his followers, for beheading farmer Ricarte Dionio in Midsayap, North Cotabato, following a raid at a Christian community in 2013.
Prior to this, Tambako was a member of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) before he joined the MILF and later the BIFF, where he was appointed Amir after Kato, reportedly his uncle, suffered a stroke in January, 2012.
Tambako had studied in Egypt and Cabunoc said his time overseas had enabled him to build up extensive contacts with foreign militants.
Sources said influential Muslim clerics and senior commanders of the MILF provided information that led to the capture of Tambako, who opposes peace talks with the government. The same sources said one of the informants is a senior Islamic preacher who served as guide to capture the suspects. (With reports from AP and Reuters)