AFP confident of neutalizing ‘Marwan’

Armed Forces of the Philippines. Photo courtesy of AFP Facebook page.

MANILA — The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on Thursday expressed confidence that they will soon capture Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) bomb maker Zulkifli bin Hir alias “Marwan”.

Earlier, Intelligence Services of the Armed Forces of the Philippines head Major Gen. Eduardo Ano said that there is large possibility that the Malaysian terrorist is still alive.

“A lot of them were already hunted down, arrested or killed, so we consider ‘Marwan’ as fugitive on the run and slowly we will get him, we will catch him sooner or later, ” AFP public affairs office chief Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala said.

He added that military operations to get the JI operative is now ongoing.

Zagala also clarified that the AFP never did claimed that “Marwan” was killed in the Philippine Air Force strike in Sulu last Feb.

2, 2012.

“We never said he was dead, there was a report na he was killed in that airstrike, however it was never validated (and) therefore, we consider him as alive, and second, we never gave the reward for the information to be validated because it was never validated, the only way to validate is to physically see the body (of ‘Marwan’) or get a DNA sample (which will confirm the information),” he stressed.

He also expressed belief that the military and other law enforcement agencies will eventually get “Marwan”.

“As far as we are concerned he is a fugitive on the run, he is subject (to) law enforcement operation(s), he is hunted by the government and as far as we are concern,we will get to him sooner or later,” Zagala pointed out.