MANILA -- The Philippine National Police (PNP) confirmed on Friday the death of terrorist Abdul Basit Usman at the hands of Moro rebels last May 3.
PNP officer-in-charge Leonardo Espina said the skin tissue which was taken by the PNP Crime Laboratory from Usman matched the DNA profile of his mother Singkorya Dagkong Usman and his nephew Hairudin Balt Usman.
Crime Laboratory Director Chief Superintendent Theresa Ann Cid said the “probability of Singkorya’s maternal relationship with Basit Usman is 99.9 percent.”
The test result also revealed that Basit Usman was "paternally related to Hairudin Balt Usman”, she added.
Police investigators also obtained the sworn statements of two barangay officials in Guindulungan, Maguindanao who positively identified the body of Ahmad Akmad Batabol Usman, alias Basit Usman.
Both barangay officials were also able to take snapshot photos of Basit Usman’s body using their own camera phones, Espina said.
Basit Usman was one of the targets of the botched operation of the PNP Special Action Force (SAF) in Mamasapano, Maguindanao on January 25 which resulted in the death of 67 people, including 44 cops.
Basit Usman was able to elude arrest while Malaysian Zulkifli Bin Hir, alias Marwan, the other target of the operation, was killed.
Both men were allegedly responsible for several bombing incidents in Mindanao which killed innocent civilians.
Espina said statements of the witnesses affirmed that Basit Usman, together with his followers, was killed after a firefight in an MILF-controlled area.
A report from Criminal Investigation and Detection Group Director Benjamin Magalong showed that a skin tissue specimen was then submitted to CIDG by a member of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front's 106th Brigade on May 8 in Camp Crame, Quezon City.
The same MILF member also submitted a sheet of plain bond paper with alleged fingerprints and bloodstains of Basit Usman.
Magalong said the MILF member executed a sworn statement before CIDG officials attesting that he personally took the specimen from the body of Basit Usman after the wanted terrorist was killed in an encounter with his unit.
The informant told PNP that he personally knew Basit Usman because they formerly served under the MILF 105th Base Command and later in the MILF splinter group, Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.
Basit Usman had a $1-million bounty offered by the United States on top of the P6.3-million reward from the Philippine government for his capture.
He was described by the US Department of Justice as a Filipino bomb-making expert with links to the Philippines-based Abu Sayyaf Group and Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist organizations operating in the southern Philippines. (Sunnex)
