MANILA — Philippine police have killed a suspected member of the Abu Sayyaf group who was allegedly involved in the kidnapping last week of two Malaysians, a military commander said Thursday. The militant, identified as Mindas Manda, died in a gunfight Wednesday after he refused to surrender when he was cornered in the market of Jolo, the capital of southern Sulu province, said provincial military task force commander Col. Allan Arrojano. Arrojano said that Manda also was suspected in other kidnappings in Malaysia, which is close to Tawi-Tawi, a province farther south consisting of a cluster of islands close to the eastern Malaysian state of Sabah where Manda had operated. — AP
