The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is confirming reports that Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) leader Radullan Sahiron alias "Commander Putol" has died in Sulu, a ranking military officer disclosed Tuesday, May 23.

 

(Radullan Sahiron alias Commander Putol / Photo courtesy of US Federal Bureau of Investigation / US FBI website)

Brig. Gen. Ignatius Patrimonio, commander of 11^th Infantry Division (11ID) and Joint Task Force (JTF) Sulu, said they received intelligence information that Sahiron died two months ago in Patikul town.

“I am 90 percent sure that he is dead,” Patrimonio said. 

Patrimonio, however, clarified that the military has “no concrete evidence” of Sahiron’s demise as his body is not found.

“The remaining 10 percent will be confirmed if we see his body,” he said.

According to Patrimonio, the military received a “feeler” from Sahiron’s camp late last year suggesting that the ASG leader’s health condition was deteriorating. Sahiron is believed to be around 70 years old by now.

Sahiron reportedly ordered his sub-leaders to surrender to the military in December 2022, According to Patrimony. The following month or in January 2023, Patrimonio said at least 20 ASG fighters yielded to JTF Sulu.

The surrenderers then requested that they be brought to an undisclosed barangay in Sulu where they built a community away from the locals, Patrimonio noted.

At present, the validation continues although Patrimonio said the military is not pushing to search or exhume for Sahiron’s suspected remains in the community built by his supporters in order to “not violate their religion.”

‘Putol’

Patrimio described Sahiron as the “face” of the ASG in Sulu.

Sahiron took over the ASG leadership in 2006 following the death of its founder, Khadaffy Janjalani. The ASG has been associated by authorities with the Islamist militant group Al-Qaeda founded by the late Osama Bin Laden, and tagged in some of the most notorious terror attacks in the country.

Accordingly, Sahiron obtained his alias, Commander Putol, when his right arm was amputated above the elbow after sustaining injuries during an armed encounter with government troops in the 1970s.

Sahiron was tagged by the United Nations Security Council as the mastermind behind numerous kidnappings and bombings in Sulu including the abduction of 21 Filipino, Finnish, French, German, Malaysian, and South African nationals in April 2000; kidnapping of four ship passengers from MT Singtec Marine 88 in June 2002; kidnapping of four Filipino women in Jolo in August 2002; and the abduction of ABS-CBN reporter Ces Drilon and her crew in July 2008 among others.

Sahiron has been included by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in its most wanted list, placing a $1 million bounty on his head. He allegedly kidnapped a male US citizen on November 14, 1993 in Sulu, and transported him to a jungle camp in Jolo before being released on Dec. 7, 1993.

If the intelligence information on Sahiron’s death is confirmed, Patrimonio said that the ASG will only have Mundi Sawadjaan, who the military said is a notorious bomb-maker, as its remaining leader of the militant group.

"Malapit na tayong magdeclare dito ng total victory (We are close to declaring total victory here)," Patrimonio said.