Pagadian City (Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN) - The US government has paid more than 3 million pesos (US$68,700) to several Basilan residents in the Philippines who were instrumental in the killing of a high-profile Abu Sayyaf leader, the military said.
"The amount was released to them," Lieutenant Colonel Randolph Cabangbang, spokesperson of the military's Western Mindanao Command based in Zamboanga City, said by phone.
Cabangbang did not identify the tipsters, who provided information that lead to the death of Abu Sayyaf leader Suhod Tanajalin in Tuburan, Basilan on February 8.
Soldiers acting on the tip raided a village in Tuburan and killed Tanajalin in the process.
"The tipsters were instrumental in the neutralization of Suhod Tanajalin when they provided A-1 information to soldiers which eventually led to a successful operation by the 32nd Infantry Battalion," he said.
Cabangbang said the reward was paid in full by the US government to the tipsters, whose number he did not disclose.
Tanajalin was allegedly involved in the 2001 Dos Palmas kidnapping and the subsequent siege of Lamitan.
Authorities also blamed him for a spate of bombings in Lamitan in 2010.
