By Ronron
November 15, 2007
Police raided late Thursday afternoon a suspected safehouse of Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) members in Quezon City who are believed to be responsible for the blast last November 13 at the House of Representatives that left four persons killed, including Basilan Rep. Wahab Akbar, and 15 others injured.
The operation conducted jointly by the Philippine Army, Special Action Force (SAF) of the Philippine National Police (PNP), and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) resulted in the killing of three ASG members, the apprehension of three others and the wounding of one SAF personnel.
Philippine Army spokesman Lt. Col. Ernesto Torres, Jr. said the raid at the suspected safehouse located in Payatas was conducted at around 4:20 pm, but a five-minute firefight ensued because the suspects resisted.
He identified the slain suspected rebels as Redwan Idaman, his wife who uses the alias Saing, and Abu Jandal alais Bong. Those captured, on the other hand, were Khaidar Awnal, Ikram Indama, and Adham Kusain.
National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Director Geary Barias said the operatives were supposed to serve the arrest warrant against Jandal for the crime of kidnapping and serious illegal detention issued by a court in Isabela City, Basilan, but the suspects opened fire using caliber 45.
“The reason why the safehouse was raided is this was a product of continuous intelligence operation on some personalities in Metro Manila,” Torres said in a phone interview.
“The reason for the raid is somewhat related to the investigation on the blast,” he added.
Recovered from the suspects were two caliber 45 firearms, a shirt of the House of Representatives, a jacket of the House of Representatives, a House of Representatives employee’s identification card of Ikram Indama (which shows he allegedly works at the office of the Deputy Speaker for Mindanao), deed of sale of a motorcycle, plate number of a motorcycle (that matches with the deed of sale), and plate number 8 (believed to be tampered with),
Barias said the “deed of sale matches with the part of the Honda motorcycle that has a barcode which we recovered after the blast.”
“Based on these items, it looks like this (group) has a connection in the bombing on November 13,” Barias said.
As of 7 last night, the suspects are still undergoing tactical interrogation.
Initial information reaching police is that the suspects have just occupied the said safehouse in the last two weeks./DMS
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