Philippines most wanted terrorist 'killed by his own bodyguards who wanted US$1m bounty'

The Philippines' most wanted Islamist militant, whose death at the weekend could boost peace efforts in the country's south, was killed by his own bodyguards in pursuit of a bounty offered by the United States, the head of the military said yesterday.

Abdul Basit Usman, a militant with strong al-Qaeda links who was blamed for numerous bomb attacks in the southern Philippines, had been hunted by security forces since 2002.

"There was in-fighting among his group," General Gregorio Pio Catapang told journalists at the main army base in Manila. "Reports reaching this headquarters revealed that Usman and five of his unidentified cohorts were killed in a shoot-out allegedly with fellow members of his group."

Catapang said he had information that Usman's followers had turned on him because of a US$1 million bounty offered by the US State Department, without elaborating.

But his account was contradicted by the country's largest Muslim rebel group - the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) - which said its fighters killed the renegade Usman.

"We can confirm that Usman is dead, and his body was buried in accordance with Muslim tradition," MILF vice-chairman Ghazali Jaafar said.

The MILF's chief peace negotiator, Mohagher Iqbal, said Usman was killed by its forces when he resisted arrest.