Southeast Asia’s most wanted terrorist may be still alive: reports
Several newspapers in the Philippines are reporting that Southeast Asia’s most wanted terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan, is alive.
It is contrary to a claim by Philippines Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas that there was a high likelihood he was killed.
The Philippines Daily Inquirer, quoting Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) commanders, had reported that Marwan and another terrorist Basit Usman may have been killed in a clash with troops near Cotabota, in Mindanao, on Sunday evening.
“They did not get Marwan, he’s still alive,” Manila Standard Today quoted Absalom Cerveza, a spokesman for the MNLF as saying.
His MNLF members have been closely monitoring the “very fluid situation” in Mindanao.
Cerveza said former MNLF rebels, who have contacts in both Moro Islamic Liberation Front and its renegade faction Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, were reporting that Marwan was no longer in the area during the early Sunday raid in Mamasapano, Maguindanao, that resulted in the death of 44 police commandos.
“It’s anybody’s guess,” Cerveza said when asked if he had an idea where Marwan was now, “but my contacts reiterated that Marwan was not in the area when the assault occurred”, The Star reported quoting reports from the Philippines.
Source: The Star
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