A top Indonesian terror suspect was wounded in an army commando raid last week that killed an al-Qaeda-linked Filipino leader on a southern Philippine island, an army official said yesterday.
Dulmatin, an Indonesian wanted for allegedly helping to plot the 2002 bombings that killed 202 people in the Indonesian resort of Bali, was hit by gunfire during a battle that erupted when army special forces attacked an Abu Sayyaf rebel camp last week on Jolo island, army First Lieutenant Amirante Mijares said.
Abu Sayyaf leader Jainal Antel Sali Jr., known by his nom de guerre Abu Sulaiman, was shot and killed during the Jan. 16 clash on Bud Daho mountain near Jolo's coastal town of Patikul.
At the time of his death, Sulaiman had been presumed to have already been designated as the new leader of his violent group following the death of its chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani in a September clash.
Mijares said he led the attack on the Abu Sayyaf camp, which housed about 60 guerrillas, after receiving an intelligence tip that Dulmatin, who goes by one name like many Indonesians, Sulaiman and a prominent local rebel fighter, Albader Parad, were hiding in the forested area.
"Dulmatin was also hit in that clash," Mijares said, without elaborating, at a news conference, where he and other army officers recounted details of the daytime assault.
"After the gunbattle, we only recovered the body of Abu Sulaiman," he said.
Mijares said he and his men managed to get close to the fog-shrouded Abu Sayyaf encampment in the wilderness then saw a militant, who later turned out to be Sulaiman, walking toward the fringes to relieve himself in the bushes. His two bodyguards were watching close by.
A soldier pointed his M-14 rifle at Sulaiman and ordered him to keep quiet, but the militant shouted "Allahu Akbar," or "God is great," apparently to warn his comrades of the raid. The soldier shot and killed him, and the gunfire set off the clash, Mijares said.
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