A top commander of a Muslim extremist group has been captured in a southern Philippine city recently rocked by deadly bombings, police said Friday. Senior Superintendent Bartolome Baluyot, regional police chief for central Mindanao, wouldn't immediately identify the man, but said he was an Abu Sayyaf group leader and a key aide of rebel chief Khadafy Janjalani.
The suspect was arrested late Thursday in General Santos city and faces more than 60 cases of kidnappings and multiple murders, including the abduction and killing of a Roman Catholic priest, Reverend Roel Gallardo, on Basilan island two years ago, said Baluyot.
He said Abu Sayyaf leaders are seeking refuge in General Santos city and elsewhere to escape a joint Philippine-U.S. counterterrorism exercise on Basilan, about 300 kilometers west of the city. Bureau Report