Qaeda-linked militants early Sunday in an assault on a rebel encampment on a southern island, a senior military commander said. A marine special operations platoon raided an Abu Sayyaf camp outside Maimbung township on Jolo island following intelligence reports that two wanted militant leaders, Umbra Jumdail and Albader Parad, were there, said Lt. Gen. Benjamin Dolorfino. Three marines were wounded in the clash. Officials were trying to verify an initial report that one of the Abu Sayyaf commanders was among those killed, Dolorfino said. The operation was based on a “very strong intelligence report” that the two militant commanders were at the camp, he said. Dolorfino said the 30-man marine platoon was backed by other troops deployed to block the escape of the militants from their encampment on Jolo, where the rebels have operated for years despite a US-backed military campaign against them. The Abu Sayyaf, which has about 400 fighters, has been blamed for numerous bombings, beheadings and kidnappings of Filipinos and foreigners, including Americans. It is believed to have received funds from Al-Qaeda and is on a US list of terrorist organizations. The US government has offered a $100,000 reward for Jumdail, also known as Dr. Abu, and $15,000 for Parad. Parad is accused of the abduction of three international Red Cross workers on Jolo early last year. The three _ a Filipino, a Swiss and an Italian _ were eventually freed by the militants. The killings followed the capture Saturday of another Abu Sayyaf member wanted for the kidnapping and murder of American tourists after nine years on the run. The arrest was applauded by the US embassy in Manila Sunday. “We applaud the efforts of the Armed Forces of the Philippines to bring terrorists to justice,” embassy spokeswoman Rebecca Thompson said in a statement following the arrest of Jumadail Arad. Arad, an alleged member of the extremist Moro group, was arrested Thursday while trying to enter a crowded Manila seaport where he planned to board a ferry bound for the troubled south. The military has said Arad was the driver of a speedboat used by the Abu Sayyaf in a 2001 raid on an island resort of Palawan in which Christian missionary couple Gracia and Martin Burnham and fellow American Guillermo Sobero were kidnapped. Sobero was beheaded as a warning to pursuing troops while Martin Burnham was killed in a raid which recovered Gracia Burnham. Several Filipinos were also kidnapped but most either escaped or were released, allegedly after ransom payments. Apart from kidnappings for ransom, the Abu Sayyaf is blamed for the country's worst terrorist attacks, including the bombing of a ferry in 2004 that killed more than 100 people in Manila Bay.
