Possible remains of Janjalani dug up, to be DNA-tested

First posted 03:10:26 (Mla time) December 28, 2006
Joel Guinto
INQUIRER.net Inquirer

(2ND UPDATE) MARINE troops unearthed on Wednesday what are believed to be the remains of Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani in the jungles of Sulu, where he and the two alleged masterminds of the 2002 Bali bombings have been trying to evade a five-month-old military dragnet, officials said.

Navy Flag Officer-in-Command Rogelio Calunsag said the remains will be flown to Zamboanga City for DNA testing by the Philippine National Police (PNP) Crime Laboratory or US authorities.

He said the DNA samples taken from the decomposing corpse would be matched with samples to be taken from Janjalani's parents.

"Unless the DNA tests confirm, we can't say that it's Janjalani," Calunsag said in a phone interview with Inquirer.net

Tipsters led troops to the gravesite in the remote village of Kabuntakas in Patikul town, site of fierce encounters between Janjalani's group and government forces, Calunsag said.

Gen. Nelson Allaga, the Philippine Marine Corps Commandant in a phone interview with the Inquirer, said he was still “not sure if the body belongs to Janjalani.”

“It is still not conclusive as far as we are concerned,” Allaga said.

Allaga said a civilian informant claimed “he was the one who buried Janjalani” after a military operation on Sept. 24 in the hinterlands of Patikul in Sulu.

“He also guided and showed the troops where Janjalani was supposedly buried,” Allaga added.

But the Marine officer said: “We are not sure of this informant. He may be doing this because of the huge amount of reward or maybe some groups or quarters would like to make it appear that Janjalani is dead.”

Brig. Gen. Juancho Sabban, the Marine Brigade Commander based in Sulu, told the Inquirer that the confirmation depended on the forensic examination that would be done on the remains.

While not directly confirming it was the remains of Janjalani, Sabban said they had reasons to believe that the information that led them to the site of the remains was A-1 information.

"May nagpunta sa akin dito sa Sulu at sinabi September pa patay na si Janjalani at alam kung saan nakalibing (Someone came to me here in Sulu and said Janjalani has been dead since September and that he knew where Janjalani was buried)," Sabban said on the phone.

According to Sabban, the walk-in informant told him that Janjalani was among those killed during the Sept. 4 encounter with a Marine reconnaissance company in Indanan, Sulu.

That company was led by First Lt. Romulo Dimayuga, who lost six of his men in that clash.

Dimayuga was also wounded and among those evacuated to Zamboanga and then to V. Luna Hospital.

"Ang magbibigay ng confirmation niyan kung sino ang nahukay namin ay (The confirmation on whose remains we unearthed will come from) higher headquarters. We will let the forensic test speak for itself," Sabban said.

Sabban was also the lead officer responsible for the neutralization of another top Abu Sayyaf commander, Aldam Tilao, popularly known as Abu Sabaya in Sibuco, Zamboanga del Norte.

It was not the first time that the military claimed to have killed the elusive bandit leader, who carries a one-million-dollar bounty from the US government for his capture.

In 2004, Janjalani was also reported to have been killed in an air raid by the Philippine Air Force in Central Mindanao but doubts persisted then.

It was later confirmed that Janjalani was indeed in that group of Abu Sayyaf hit by the Air Force but he survived, although he was reported to have been wounded.

The military has been hot on the trail of Janjalani and Jemaah Islamiyah explosives experts Dulmatin and Umar Patek in Sulu since August 1.

The number of soldiers involved in the dragnet has swelled to nearly 8,000 over the months.

Dulmatin and Patek allegedly masterminded the bomb attacks on a nightclub strip in the Indonesian resort-island of Bali in October 2002 that killed over 200 people, mostly Western tourists.

In October, Dulmatin's wife, Istiada Binti Oemar Sovie, and their two children were arrested in Sulu for violation of immigration laws. They were deported back to Indonesia recently.

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