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American Morning

Abu Sabaya Missing in Philippine Waters

Aired June 21, 2002 - 07:06   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: News that affects people who we have been watching for quite a bit of time is the notorious leader of the Abu Sayyaf guerrillas. He is missing in the waters off the Philippines, and he may have been shot in a guerrilla gun battle with government troops.

Our bureau chief in Manila is Maria Ressa, and she joins us on the phone right now -- Maria, hello.

MARIA RESSA, CNN MANILA BUREAU CHIEF: Hello, Daryn. Well, he has been shot. That's according to the Philippine military. They talked to -- one of the Philippine special forces, who says that he shot him, that he had him in his sights. Philippine officials now say that they believe Aldam Tilao, a.k.a. Abu Sabaya, is dead. But they have cautioned, and say they don't want to confirm that until they actually find his body. Operations are still continuing and have been for more than 13 hours now.

What they know for sure is that there was an encounter between Philippine special force and the Abu Sayyaf in the predawn hours on Friday. Three members of the Abu Sayyaf were wounded, jumped into the water; four others were captured. Based on the interrogation of those four men, authorities say that Abu Sabaya was one of the three who jumped overboard, and that he was wounded -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Maria, I know there are about 1,000 U.S. troops that are over there. They have been helping train Philippine forces. Were they involved in this latest attack?

RESSA: Philippine officials are very clear to point out that they were not in the direct operations. It's against the Philippine constitution at this point for the U.S. troops to actually go into the line of fire, go into actual combat. But U.S. officials did say that they were involved in terms of surveillance, technical surveillance. That's also been seconded by the secretary of defense in the Philippines.

KAGAN: Maria Ressa on the phone with us from Manila -- thank you so much.

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