Posted on 06/23/2002 4:01:31 PM PDT by knighthawk
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippine military awarded medals Saturday to U.S.-trained troops involved in a gunbattle with the leader of the Muslim extremist Abu Sayyaf rebels, whose still-missing body now has a $1,000 bounty on it.
Ensign Christopher Salimbangon (L) is congratulated by Brigadier General Donald Wurster (R) commander for US troops in the Philipines, after being awarded the Gold Cross medal. Salimbagong, took part in the naval assault mission that led to the killing of Abu Sayyaf leader Abu Sabaya. AFP PHOTO/CONRADO MARALIT
Abu Sabaya, a notorious leader and spokesman for the al-Qaida linked Abu Sayyaf, was believed to have been killed with two of his men in a brief gunbattle Friday off Mindanao island.
The military said the men were among seven guerrillas trying to escape a massive military operation after a clash earlier this month. The Abu Sayyaf, which went on a kidnapping spree last year, lost its final three hostages in that clash, including an American missionary who was killed.
In his first expansion of the war on terror, President Bush sent more than 1,000 U.S. troops to help the badly undertrained Philippine armed forces wipe out Abu Sayyaf. The six-month mission began earlier this year.
Bush had a five-minute telephone conversation Saturday morning with Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, White House officials said.
The reported killing of Sabaya came up in the conversation, the officials said. In general, Bush said he was pleased with the special cooperation between the United States and the Philippines.
Brig. Gen. Donald Wurster, commander of the U.S. troops here, attended the ceremonies in which 22 Philippine marine and navy special forces soldiers involved in Friday's clash received the Gold Cross medal for gallantry in action.
Wurster praised the operation and said Sabaya had ``no chance'' of surviving.
``That was a Philippine operation A to Z,'' he said. ``We were involved in all the communications and we knew what they planned to do and we offered them help in ways to strengthen their already very capable plans.''
The Philippine military said four guerrillas were captured, while Sabaya and the two others were killed while trying to swim away. The military commander in the southern Philippines, Maj. Gen. Ernesto Carolina, said one of the captured men later died of a heart attack.
Navy divers were searching for Sabaya's body, and the military offered a $1,000 reward for its recovery.
But Carolina showed reporters a pair of Sabaya's trademark sunglasses, a driver's license and other personal items from a backpack recovered at the scene. Those items and reports from the guerrillas and soldiers involved in the clash confirm he died, Carolina said.
Marine Capt. Gieram Aragones said the soldiers had been using the same speedboat that Sabaya used in a May 27, 2001, raid on a resort where they seized 17 Filipinos and three Americans. The boat was later found abandoned.
Aragones said they caught the guerrillas by surprise when they rammed the smaller Abu Sayyaf boat. He said about seven soldiers were designated to fire on the left side, where Sabaya was seated, and continued ``very discriminate, deliberate'' shots at him after he fell into the water.
``We were so close that we could smell their gunpowder,'' he said. ``I am 100 percent sure that Sabaya is dead.''
Carolina also said troops arrested Abbas Samson, a local village chief in Sibuco, on suspicion he gave sanctuary to Sabaya's group while they waited for the boat.
The Abu Sayyaf band has terrorized the southern Philippines with a string of kidnappings that included the resort raid in which Guillermo Sobero of Corona, Calif., was abducted, along with Martin and Gracia Burnham of Wichita, Kan.
Some of their hostages were killed, including Sobero; others escaped and the rest were freed, reportedly for large ransoms. Only the Burnhams and Filipino nurse Ediborah Yap were left when troops found footprints in the jungle June 7 and tracked down the rebels. Martin Burnham and Yap were killed in the ensuing battle — by whom remains unclear — and Gracia was found wounded but alive.
In a speech on national radio, said Saturday she would not stop until the rebels were wiped out.
On Friday, Bush praised Arroyo's leadership.
``It goes to show that, by assembling a vast coalition of freedom-loving countries, that when we work together and we're strong and diligent, we can succeed,'' he said in Washington.
From the looks of it all the lead sent him to the bottom.
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