Top JI operative buhay, nananatiling banta – AFP

BUHAY at nananatiling banta ang Filipino militant bomb-making expert na pinaniwalaang napatay sa sagupaan, pahayag ng militar kahapon.

Si Abdel Basit Usman, nasa US government’s list ng most-wanted “terrorists,” ay “bomb-making expert,” at may $1 million reward mula sa State Department para sa kanyang ikaaaresto.

Magugunitang iniulat na si Usman ay kabilang sa napatay noong 2010 sa US drone attack na target ang Pakistani Taliban leader sa remote area ng northern Pakistan.

Gayunman, inihayag ng Philippine military officials na mali ang nasabing ulat.

Si Usman, sinasabi ng Philippine at US government na may kaugnayan sa Jemaah Islamiyah at Abu Sayyaf group, ay nakita sa kampo ng Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF)sa Mindanao, pahayag ni Southern Philippines military spokesman Colonel Dickson Hermoso.

“We launched a raid two weeks ago. There was a firefight and we recovered an arms cache, but he was able to get away,” pahayag ni Hermoso. “He’s the one training the BIFF members who are conducting bombings in central Mindanao.”

“Based on what we know, he is still active,” ayon kay military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Ramon Zagala.

“As far as we’re concerned he’s with the BIFF,” aniya pa.