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Senior Islamic militant killed by Philippine Navy

A senior Islamic militant, wanted by the US government, has been killed in a clash with the Philippine military in the nation's restive south, an official said yesterday.

Abdul Mubin Sakandal, a leader of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf (Bearer of the Sword) group, was killed during a joint navy and marine operation on the remote island of Tawi-Tawi, a military official said.

Sakandal, also known as Abdurajak Mobin, had allegedly helped carry out a string of high-profile kidnappings of foreigners from resort islands in neighboring Malaysia and from the Philippine isle of Palawan.

"Our naval elements neutralized Mobin ... during a dragnet operation at 7.30pm on Saturday," regional navy chief Rear Admiral Emilio Marayag said.

Posted on the US government's list of wanted "terrorists," Sakandal was a brother in law and a lieutenant of overall Abu Sayyaf leader Khadaffy Janjalani, who was himself killed last year by marines.

Washington had earlier offered up to US$20,000 for Sakandal's arrest, while the Philippine government had placed a separate 2 million peso (US$48,780) bounty on his head.

Founded in the early 1990s by Afghan-trained Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani, the Abu Sayyaf initially fought for an independent Islamic state in the southern Philippines, and had once received funding from Osama bin Laden's network, experts say.

After Janjalani was killed in 1998, the group degenerated into a criminal gang, specializing in kidnap for ransom and bombing attacks.

In 2000 and 2001, they seized dozens of foreign hostages. Although all of the European hostages were later freed on ransom, two kidnapped Americans were killed -- with one of them beheaded.

Last week, 14 Abu Sayyaf members were sentenced to life imprisonment for the deaths of the American hostages.

In 2004, the Abu Sayyaf firebombed a passenger ferry in Manila Bay, killing more than 100 people in the country's worst terrorist attack.
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