August 31, 2007, Inquirer, 'Abu leaders reported dead are alive'--local officials, by Julie Alipala,

August 31, 2007, Inquirer, 'Abu leaders reported dead are alive'--local officials, by Julie Alipala,

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines -- Two of the most wanted leaders of the Abu Sayyaf are still alive, contrary to claims by the military that they were killed in clashes with government troops in August.

Puruji Indama and his right-hand-man, Nuruddin Muddalan alias Nod, "are still alive and are targets of the military operations" in four towns of Basilan province, Senior Superintendent Salik Macapantar, provincial police chief, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer, parent company of INQUIRER.net.

Unkaya Pukan Mayor Joel Maturan and Albarka Mayor Jakilan Karam also confirmed to the Inquirer that Indama and Muddalan are alive.

Both said, however, that Muddalan was wounded in an August 18 encounter in Barangay Silangkum in Tipo-tipo town.

"He's not the one who was killed by the Marines," Karam said.

Maturan said he received reports that the two Abu Sayyaf leaders were being harbored by influential politicians in Sumisip town. "That is why the pursuit operation has been diverted from Tipo-tipo."

Brigadier General Juancho Sabban, deputy chief of the Western Mindanao Command and commander of Task Force Thunder, which leads the operation in Basilan, told the Inquirer earlier that the five junior officers and 10 enlisted personnel who died in the August 18 encounter in Unkaya Pukan town "finally served justice to those responsible for the beheading of 10 other soldiers in Albarka."

Sabban claimed the mission was fully accomplished as Marines were able to kill a total of 42 bandits, including Indama and Muddalan.

"Our soldiers and officers didn't die in vain," he said in an interview the day after the Unkaya Pukan clash.