Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff Eduardo Año. PHOTO FROM AFP
While President Rodrigo Duterte said that top Abu Sayyaf leader may have been killed in airstrikes two to three months ago, the military has yet to confirm this.
“There are raw reports but we still have no confirmation that Hapilon is really dead,” Armed Forces chief Gen. Eduardo Año said on Tuesday.
In his speech at an event of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines on Monday, Duterte said Hapilon has not been heard of since the airstrikes last January though he is not discounting the possibility that he may still be alive.
READ: Duterte hopeful Isnilon Hapilon finally killed in airstrikes
Hapilon, a senior leader of the Abu Sayyaf wanted for kidnappings in Mindanao, is reportedly the recognized leader of the Islamic State in the Philippines. Last January, Defense Secretary Lorenzana said that they have received reports that Hapilon is establishing a wilayat or province in Central Mindanao.
Año said their last information about Hapilon was he was being carried by four Abu Sayyaf members transferring from one temporary base to another in the hinterlands of Butig.
BACKSTORY: Lorenzana: Top terror leader Isnilon Hapilon ‘seriously wounded’
Operations against his group still continue in Lanao and Basilan, he also said. IDL