Philippine security forces hunting Islamist militants in a central Philippine island have killed a key commander who had been blamed for the beheadings of two Canadian hostages in 2016.
The military in Sulu confirmed that Abu Sayyaf leader Muammar Askali, who used the nom de guerre Abu Rami, was one of six militants killed in Inabanga, on Bohol island.
Askali was blamed for the kidnappings of John Ridsdel and Robert Hall in September 2015. The Canadians had been taken from a marina by Abu Sayyaf gunmen along with a Norwegian man, Kjartan Sekkingstad, and Hall’s Filipino girlfriend, Marites Flor.
The militant group demanded a ransom, which Canada refused to pay, and both Canadian men were beheaded last year.
Abu Sayyaf militants continue to hold at least 29 captives in Sulu’s jungles, many of them foreign tugboat and cargo ship crewmen seized at the sea border between the southern Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia.
Brig. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana, commander of Joint Task Group Sulu, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that they had monitored Askali and his group leaving Sulu on April 6.
“He and his followers left Sulu for a safer place, but it appears that there’s no safe place for the Abu Sayyaf anymore,” Sobejana was quoted by the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered troops to destroy the extremists and has threatened to declare martial law in the country’s south if the threat posed by the Abu Sayyaf and other extremist groups aligned with the Islamic State group gets out of control.
With files from The Associated Press
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