US Most Wanted Terrorist In Southeast Asia Killed in Airstrike in Southern Philippines

The terrorist groups Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) and Abu Sayyaf are again dealt a heavy blow with the death of Zulfikli Bin Hir who is one of the most wanted terrorists of the US State Department. Hir along with two other terrorist leaders and 12 of their followers were killed in US-backed air strike by the Philippine Air Force. Two OV-10 Bronco planes dropped 4 bombs on their target at Duyan Kabaw, Parang, Sulu at around 3 a.m., January 2, 2012.

Aside from Hir the other two terrorists leaders who were killed were Muhammad Ali alias Mauwiya Ansala, a Singaporean who had a bounty of $50,000 dollars on his head and Umbra Jumdail alias Doc Abu, a leader of Abu Sayyaf, a local terrorist group that is allied with the Jemaah Islamiyah and Al Qaeda. Doc Abu carried a price tag of 7.4 million pesos or $140,000 that was offered by the Philippine government for his death or capture.

Zulkifli Bin Hir alias Marwan, a Malaysian, was a member of Jemaah Islamiyah central command and had a bounty of $5 million on his head. He studied engineering in the US on a Malaysian government scholarship. Marwan who had a penchant for explosives joined the mujahidin fighters when USSR invaded Afghanistan. After the war he returned to Malaysia and became engineer of a local municipality. He continued his connection with the terrorists by associating with the Kumpulan Mujahidin Malaysia, a group linked to the JI. When the conflict in Bosnia and Chechnya erupted, he enlisted the Malaysian youths to become freedom fighters. He was a suspect in Southern Bank robbery in Petaling, Jaya in 2001. He was also wanted for his role in the murder of assemblyman Dr. Joe Fernandez early in 2000. Those accusations were related to his involvement in terrorism. He fled the country in 2002 when police raided and detained JI members in Johor, Malaysia. The police offered 50,000 ringgits for his capture.

Marwan was reported to be hiding in the Philippines since 2003 where he sought refuge in the terrorist group called Abu Sayyaf. He trained the Philippine terrorists in the manufacture and use of explosive. He was also suspected by the Philippine authorities to be one of the personalities behind the bombings in Mindanao and other parts of the Philippines. For that reason, the government put up a $5 million bounty on his head.

Muhammad Ali, one of the terrorist leader killed in the attack, was wanted in Singapore for terrorism. Doc Abu had been a member of the Abu Sayyaf for a long time and participated in many atrocities that it committed. One of them was his involvement in the Dos Palmas Resort kidnapping where Filipino and foreign tourists were abducted and brought to Sulu. He was a medic of the terrorist group, hence his name.

Military authorities in the Philippines said that they followed Marwan for months through intelligence surveillance. And they were in coordination with the United States forces for intelligence gathering and for the provision of technical equipment for tracking down their target. When the opportunity presented itself, the Philippine Air Forces with its Viet Nam War vintage planes pounded on the enemy before the break of dawn at about 3 a.m. on February 2, 2012. The dead bodies of the terrorists were said to be positively identified by the intelligence informers and police authorities.

About 600 members of US Special Forces have been in the Philippines since 2002 to act as advisers and trainers of local troops. They are prohibited however to directly participate in combat operations.

The airstrike which claimed the lives of Zulkifli Bin Hir and other terrorists is the most successful operation in the War on terrorism in Southeast Asia since the January 2011 arrest of JI suspect Umar Patek in the garrison of Abbottabad, Pakistan the place where Usama bin Laden was killed in May 2011.