The Armed Forces of the Philippines on Wednesday said the annihilation of the Abu Sayyaf Group in Sulu province is imminent.

AFP spokesperson Col. Medel Aguilar made the remarks following reports that ASG leader Radullan Sahiron alias “Commander Putol” allegedly recently died in Sulu.

“There is a better news than the alleged death of Radullan Sahiron, a.k.a. Putol, leader of the Abu Sayyaf Group that was designated by the Anti-Terrorism Council as a terrorist organization. It is the end of the ASG’s reign of terror in the province of Sulu,” Aguilar told reporters.

Aguilar said one of the ASG leaders, Amah Patit, along with 20 other members of the core group of Sahiron, surrendered to the government on the instruction of Sahiron himself on 8 January.

At that time, Sahiron was already old and reportedly sick, he added.

“Since then, no word was heard from the wanted ASG leader except for unverified information from several sources that he is already dead,” Aguilar said.

Brig. Gen. Ignatius Patrimonio, commander of the 11th Infantry Division and Joint Task Force Sulu, said they received intelligence information that Sahiron died two months ago in Patikul town.

However, Patrimonio aid the military has yet to see Sahiron’s physical body as “concrete evidence” of his demise.

The United Nations Security Council had previously tagged Sahiron as the mastermind behind numerous kidnappings and bombing incidents in Sulu.

Among these were the abduction of 21 Filipino, Finnish, French, German, Malaysian and South African nationals in April 2000; the kidnapping of four passengers from the MT Singtec Marine 88 in June 2002; the kidnapping of four Filipino women in Jolo in August 2002; and the abduction of ABS-CBN reporter Ces Drilon and her crew in July 2008.

Also, Sahiron was included in the most wanted list by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation with a $1 million bounty on his head due to the kidnapping of a male US citizen on 14 November 1993 in Sulu. The victim was transported to a jungle camp in Jolo before being released on 7 December 1993.

The country’s Anti-Terrorism Council designated ASG a terrorist organization in June last year.