Abdul Basit Usman
| Abdul Basit Usman | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
Ahmad Akmad Usman y Batabol 1974 Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao, Philippines |
| Died | 3 May 2015 (aged 40–41) Guindulungan, Maguindanao |
| Nationality | Filipino |
| Other names |
List
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Ahmad Akmad Usman y Batabol (1974 – 3 May 2015), more commonly known as Abdul Basit Usman, was a Filipino bomb-making expert who led the Special Operations Group of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and had links to the Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah militant groups. Usman was on the United States' Rewards for Justice Program list, which offered $1 million for his capture.
Usman was born in 1974 in Labo-Labo, a village in Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao, in the southern Philippines. He worked as an overseas Filipino in Pakistan before engaging in militant activities.
Usman was implicated in the FitMart Mall bombing in General Santos on 21 April 2002, which killed at least 15 people and injured 55 others. Several weeks later, he was arrested and accused of assembling the bomb. He was interrogated and imprisoned at the Sarangani Provincial Police Station, but was made a minimum-security detainee for good behavior. His cell was not locked, and he escaped in October 2002.
Upon his escape, Usman joined Tahir Alonto, a former commander of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front whom the military had accused of leading the Pentagon gang, a kidnap-for-ransom group. Usman later offered to turn himself in. Senior Inspector Aucelito Cabang, who was Usman's custodial officer, entered Alonto's territory with three other officers to arrest Usman, but was killed in what turned out to be a trap.
Usman would later be linked to a bombing at the public market of Tacurong on 10 October 2006, which injured four people, and to the Cotabato City bombings on 5 and 7 January 2007, which killed two people and injured three others.
On 14 January 2010, Usman was incorrectly reported to have been killed along with several others in an American drone strike in Pakistan that targeted the Pakistani Taliban leader, Hakimullah Mehsud. Later, he was also reported to have been killed in a series of military shellings in Maguindanao.
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