A top Abu Sayyaf group (ASG) leader and two other bandits said to be the former’s sons were killed in a clash with police commandos in Maimbung, Sulu last Saturday.

A police report identified the slain top Abu Sayyaf leader as Gafur Jumdail.

Jumdail, a “high-value target,” and two other unidentified members of the ASG, were killed in Maimbung town at midnight, according to PNP Sr. Supt. Agrimero Cruz Jr.

Official reports reaching Camp Crame Sunday morning confirmed this.

The PNP DIPO (Directorate for Integrated Police Operation)-Western Mindanao reported that members of the Philippine National Police Special Action Force (SAF) and the Directorate for Integrated Police Operation (DIPO) in Western Mindanao tracked down the bandits in a remote village in Maimbung.

Sr. Supt. Jose Bayani Gucela told newsmen that Jumdail was the provincial head of the Abu Sayyaf in Sulu. Military records showed he was the brother of another top Abu Sayyaf leader named Gumbahali Jumdail aka “Doc Abu.”

The two other gunmen slain in the encounter were said to be sons of Jumdail, Gucela said. However he could not provide their identities.

He said members of the DIPO team, the police’s SAF and of the intelligence unit, launched an operation after receiving reports on the presence of Jumdail and a certain Marwan, a suspected member of the regional terror group Jemaah Islamiyah.

Marwan was able to escape, but the police team recovered three high-powered firearms and several rounds of ammunition, he said.

Hours after the report of Jumdail’s death, PNP Director General Jesus Verzosa placed all PNP units in Mindanao on full alert.

“I have declared a full alert status of all PNP units and offices in the whole of Mindanao effective 1200 Sept 05 against possible retaliatory terrorist acts of the ASG,” Versoza said in a message relayed to field units.