GOVERNMENT forces killed on Monday an Abu Sayyaf subcommander following a brief firefight in a remote village in Akbar, Basilan.

Lt. Col. Vincent Teodoro, 7th Marine Battalion Landing Team commander, identified the fatality as Karim Jamsali Yebnon, alias Commander Bakulaw.

Teodoro said Yebnon was a henchman of the late Abu Sayyaf spokesman Abu Sabaya.

This developed as the police intensified their search-and-rescue operations for an engineer who was reported missing for six days now in Sulu.

Chief Supt. Joel Goltiao, Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) police commander, said the Sulu police are still searching for Mursid Tagitis, whom his family reported missing since last week in Sulu.

Goltiao could not say if Tagitis was kidnapped but said that the police are continuously looking for the engineer.

Tagitis, who is from Manila and working for an Islamic bank, reportedly disappeared after leaving his hotel in Jolo.

The case of the engineer cropped up when the Sulu police chief, Senior Supt. Ahirum Ajirim, reported that family members of Tagitis informed the police that they have lost their communication with him since October 30.

Ajirim said he was informed about Tagitis’s disappearance by the ARMM police operations chief, Senior Supt. Danilo Bacas.

Ajirim said Tagitis went to Sulu on October 30 without coordinating his trip with local authorities.

Teodoro said the encounter between his men and the Abu Sayyaf occurred when soldiers raided Yebnon’s safe house at sitio Sipit-Sipit in barangay Bao, Akbar town, at about 5:30 a.m.

He said that when the Marines arrived, they were engaged by a 10-man Abu Sayyaf group under Yebnon, triggering a 10-minute firefight.

Overpowered, the bandits fled, leaving behind the body of Yebnon and his M-16 rifle.

Teodoro said the authorities are still verifying if Yebnon was among those who participated in the ambush on July 10 in Al-Barka, Basilan, that resulted in the killing of 14 Marines. Ten of the slain Marines were later beheaded.

Last week another member of the Abu Sayyaf was killed in Basilan following an encounter with Army troops.

Ayob Ikung was killed in a firefight between his group and members of the 9th Special Forces Company at the boundary of Lantawan town and Isabela City at about 8:25 a.m. on Thursday.

The 9th Special Forces Company is the same unit that killed Abu Sayyaf leader Abu Solaiman in an assault on a large bandit camp on Mount Dajo in Talipao town, Sulu province, in January.---With B. Garcia Jr.

NOT even the supposed “reconciliation” between President Arroyo, Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. and former President Fidel Ramos would stop the opposition from “strengthening” what was described as a “weak” impeachment complaint against the Chief Executive.

AS tension rises in major cities in Pakistan after President Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has issued a warning to some 3,000 Filipinos there to contact the embassy and consulates and take precautions.

GOVERNMENT forces killed on Monday an Abu Sayyaf subcommander following a brief firefight in a remote village in Akbar, Basilan.

Lafayette Philippines is planning to file charges against saboteurs and hoax artists, as it is becoming increasingly clear according to the company, that the latest fishkill report is another hoax very similar to the one foisted on Sorsogon residents last year.

THE National Police will not let up in its campaign to rid the service of misfits and other undesirable policemen, the country’s top cop said on Monday.

THE US Senate has proposed additional contingency fund for the Philippines amounting to $2 million on top of the $30-million foreign military funding, provided the Philippine government addresses extrajudicial killings and its military stops intimidating leftist groups.