Philippine security forces on Wednesday killed one Abu Sayyaf terror group’s bomb expert in a clash in a remote village in southern Philippine province Sulu, a military spokesman said.
Maj. Arvin Encinas, the spokesperson of the Philippine military’s Western Mindanao Command, identified the slain terrorist as Nanz Sawadjaan, the younger brother of Abu Sayyaf sub-leader Hatib Hajan Sawadjaan.
Encinas said he was one of the Abu Sayyaf group’s bomb experts who produced the improvised explosive devices used in the recent suicide bombing incidents in Sulu.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines Joint Task Force Sulu commander Brig.-Gen. Corleto Vinluan said the killing of Sawadjaan was a great loss to the group.
He added that his death would debilitate the current strategy employed by the group in creating havoc in the province.
Meanwhile, two soldiers were wounded earlier, in a clash between Philippine security forces and around 40 Abu Sayyaf fighters in a remote village in Patikul town of Sulu province