U.S. hands over $10 mln bounty to Philippine Muslims
JOLO, Philippines (Reuters) - The United States handed over $10 million in bounties to four Muslim men in the southern Philippines on Thursday for their role in the killing of two leaders of the country's deadliest Islamic militant group.
U.S. ambassador Kristie Kenney handed over briefcases containing crisp 1,000-peso bills to the men on the southern island of Jolo, the bastion of the Abu Sayyaf militants. They wore black hoods during the ceremony to conceal their identities.
Two of the men were former Abu Sayyaf rebels who turned themselves in and led Philippine soldiers to the grave of their leader. They shared $5 million.
Two Muslim farmers who tipped off army commandos about another militant leader who was then killed in a gunbattle in January shared another $5 million bounty.
"I will be proud to give another $10 million to any citizen who will step forward to keep the rest of us safe," Kenney said. The briefcases contained only a symbolic amount of money, and each man would receive $2.5 million, officials said.
It was the highest bounty ever given in the Philippines.
The two former rebels led troops to the exact spot where Abu Sayyaf chief Khaddafy Janjalani was buried after being mortally wounded in a gunbattle on Jolo last year.
Information from the two farmers helped troops track down and kill Abu Solaiman, the spokesman for the group and also known as "the engineer".
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