KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian terrorist Zukifli Hir, or Marwan, also Southeast Asia’s most wanted terrorist, was reportedly killed in a clash between Philippine government forces and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) fighters on Sunday, the Philippines Daily Inquirer reported.

The report said yesterday that Marwan and another terrorist, Basit Usman, might have been killed in the clash near Cotabota, southern Philippines.

However, MILF chief for military affairs Von Al Haq said that the Philippine National Police Special Action Force (SAF) commandos encountered and clashed with Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) when the government forces came to serve a warrant for Marwan’s arrest.

“They were also after Basit Usman,” Al Haq was quoted as saying.

Marwan and Basit were experts in making bombs and active with the Indonesia-based Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist group.

A police source also confirmed Marwan’s death with the Philippine daily, saying the terrorist had been killed with other BIFF members.

“They were trapped and may have run out of bullets during the fierce firefight,” the source was reported as saying.

It said that Marwan had a US$5 million (RM18.05 million) bounty on his head for his role in several terror attacks which had also put him on the US Federal Bureau of Investigation most wanted list.

The report said that preliminary details of the clash were sketchy.

Military and police officials earlier said that SAF commandos had been been involved in the clash with suspected BIFF terrorists in Mamasapano town, Maguindanao, in Mindanao island.

But an MILF official was quoted as saying later that the SAF commandos had intruded into territory controlled by the MILF’s 105th Base Command, and a clash had ensued.

BIFF is an MILF splinter group opposed to peace talks.

The report also said that some 30 police commandos had been killed in the fight — the first violence since a peace agreement brokered by Malaysia between the government and MILF.

MILF chief negotiator in the peace talks Mohagher Iqbal was reported to have confirmed the clash but neither the group nor the military would indicate who had been killed.

“This is the first encounter between the MILF and (government forces) this year. Hopefully, this will be the last,” Iqbal was quoted as saying.

“The clash was triggered by a no-coordination police operation. They also attacked our position. That’s how our troops were dragged into the encounter.”

BIFF spokesman Abu Misri Mama told the daily that the clash began after SAF searched the area for Marwan and encountered the MILF’s 105th Base Command.

The Army’s 6th Infantry Division public affairs unit chief Captain Joanne Petinglay said the military had been conducting clearing operations in Mamasapano, where the policemen were killed in a clash with BIFF fighters and other outlaws.

“We are still verifying the casualty figure. What we are doing is we assist the police in extracting the fatalities,” Petinglay was quoted as saying. — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on January 27, 2015.