Sayyaf leader killed, 2 SAF policemen wounded in Basilan clash

ZAMBOANGA CITY—A senior leader of homegrown terror group Abu Sayyaf was killed while two members of the police’s Special Action Force (SAF) were wounded in a clash in the town of Lantawan, Basilan province on Friday (April 23).

Lt. Gen. Corleto Vinluan Jr., Western Mindanao Command (Wesmincom) chief, said soldiers and policemen were serving arrest warrants on three persons at the village of Baungis early on Friday when the subjects resisted, leading to a gunfight.

Vinluan identified the slain Abu Sayyaf member as Poloy Hallang, also known as Commander Heck. The identities of the two SAF policemen were withheld.

Hallang’s brothers, Ronnie and Amil, were also targets of the operation but eluded arrest, according to Brig. Gen. Domingo Gobway, head of the Army’s Joint Task Force Basilan. The two escaped at the height of the gunfight, Gobway said.

Hallang was facing a string of criminal cases, including murder for the killing of an Army official during a clash in Lantawan in 2014, Gobway said.

Hallang’s remains, M-16 rifle and bullets found in his house had been turned over to police, the general said.

According to Vinluan, the operation involved the 4th Special Forces Battalion, 53rd and 54th Special Action Company of the PNP Special Action Force, 2nd Basilan Province Mobile Force Company and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Basilan.

TSB