Government ‘assets’ pounced on Usman
While he waited for Pac-May fight over radio
MANILA — Only the 15-year-old-son of Zulkipli bin Hir alias "Marwan," the Malaysian bomb-maker killed during the Mamasapano, Maguindanao incident last Jan. 25, survived the special operation that neutralized Filipino terror leader Basit Usman and his five followers in Guindulungan town before noon Sunday.
This was stressed by a government source who also claimed that Usman and his men were gunned down by "assets" while waiting for the radio broadcast of the Mayweather-Pacquiao bout last May 3.
He added that the "assets" were embedded in Usman's group.
The source further said that these operatives were responsible for giving security forces the exact location and disposition of the bandit leader's group.
With this information, government troops were able to foil and attack Usman's group, causing casualties to the latter.
The source also stressed that the "assets" literally decided to jump the gun on Usman and his followers after seeing the latter slumped down, listening to the radio, waiting for the Mayweather-Pacquiao bout at 10 a.m. Sunday.
"All of them, Usman and his five followers, were killed on the spot when our 'assets' decided to fire on them," he stressed.
Of Usman's group, only Marwan's 15-year old son managed to escape despite being wounded.
After making their kill, the "assets" then fled into a government safe house as nearby Moro Islamic Liberation Front fighters arrived at the scene and fired indiscriminately, in a bid to scare would-be attackers or ambushers.
"The 'assets' will definitely (be) given the US$ 1-million (placed by the US State Department) and the P6.3 million placed on Usman's head," the source said.
Meanwhile, the MILF is "welcome" to claim its men slew Abdul Basit Usman, but as far as the military is concerned, the wanted bomb maker was killed by his own men, who were supposedly fighting over the $1-million bounty offered by the United States and a separate P6.3-million reward from the Philippine government.
"Based on initial reports that we have, Usman was killed in a shootout between his men. Five others were killed in that incident. We welcome though the claim of the MILF that they were the ones who killed Usman," Armed Forces of the Philippines Civil Relations Service chief Brigadier General Joselito Kakilala said in an interview with Interaksyon.com.
However, Kakilala also acknowledged that there is no conclusive evidence to establish whom to credit for the death of Usman, who escaped the disastrous January 25 Special Action Force operation in Mamasapano, Maguindanao. That mission left Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias "Marwan," dead, but at the cost of 44 police commandos, 17 MILF fighters and at least three civilians.
"General Catapang has ordered Major General (Edmundo) Pangilinan, commander of the Army's 6th Infantry Division to submit the soonest possible his special report about Usman’s death that would be the final report of the AFP. By then we will know who really killed Usman," Kakilala said.
Kakilala declined to say how the military was able to produce a photograph purporting to show Usman’s body except to point out that the military has a "very broad" intelligence network.
"I don't want to preempt the report of Major General Pangilinan that he will be submitting to General Catapang," he said.
Kakilala also said they had received reports Usman’s killers had left his body behind and that this could have been retrieved by MILF fighters who rushed to the area on hearing bursts of gunfire.
But in an earlier radio interview, MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal said the responding MILF fighters reported that Usman’s body had been taken by his men. (Interaksyon News Online)