Abu Sayyaf leader surrenders to military in Basilan

The island province of Basilan (in red shading) in Mindanao (Image from Google Maps)

ZAMBOANGA CITY — The military on Wednesday evening confirmed the surrender of a notorious Basilan-based Abu Sayyaf leader and 13 of his followers.

Lt. Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr., the commander of the Western Mindanao Command, said Nurhassan Jamiri and his men brought in their firearms when they yielded to soldiers in a remote village in Hadji Mohammad Ajul town in Basilan early Wednesday.

Galvez said the firearms that Jamiri’s group turned in were 10 high-powered firearms, including M16 and M14 rifles; 40 assorted ammunition magazines, 651 pieces of live ammunition, an MK52 fragmentation grenade, and eight bandoliers.

He described Jamiri’s surrender as a product of a successful negotiation and collaboration between security forces and local officials, led by Basilan Gov. Jim Saliman Hataman, Isabela City Vice Mayor Cherilyn Akbar, and Ustadz Hud Limaya, the deputy commander of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front’s 114th Base Command.

The surrender took place two days after President Rodrigo Duterte visited Patikul in Sulu and urged Abu Sayyaf bandits to yield and talk to him.

Galvez said the surrendered Abu Sayyaf leader and his men had been brought to the headquarters of the 9th Scout Ranger Company and the Army’s 104 Infantry Brigade in Tabiawan in Isabela City.

Brig. Gen. Juvymax Uy, the commander of Joint Task Force Basilan, said Jamiri and his men were undergoing custodial debriefing.

Uy said the military was also coordinating with the police on necessary legal procedures that had to be undertaken.

Even as he credited negotiations, Galvez said the President’s speech in Sulu on Monday “was pivotal in convincing Jamiri and 13 of his men to lay down their weapons and end their terror activities in the island province.”

Jamiri was tagged in the 2011 kidnapping of Australian Warren Rodwell, who was subsequently freed.

But his notoriety started as early as 2001 when he allegedly led the bombing of Fort Pilar here, which left a Marine sentinel dead and 18 devotees wounded.

Jamiri was also involved in the June 2, 2001 Lamitan siege that left six soldiers dead and 41 others wounded.

On July 10, 2007, his group also ambushed a Marine contingent in Al-Barka, Basilan and killed 14 marines in the process.

He was also tagged as behind the kidnapping of humanitarian mission workers Esperancita Hupida and Milet Mendoza on September 15, 2008.

“This surrender only proves that with the President’s strategic guidance, our relentless offensives on the ground and our diplomatic approach are effective in defeating the Abu Sayyaf bandits and in addressing the internal aggression in Zambasulta area,” Galvez said.

He said the military was optimistic that more bandits would surrender in the coming days.

Last year, 76 bandits yielded to the military in Sulu. /atm