ZAMBOANGA CITY: Police here shot dead Tuesday a notorious Abu Sayyaf subleader involved in terrorism and in the kidnapping of foreigners in southern Philippines, officials said.

Police reports said Arrasid Halissam was killed in his hideout when he opened fire on policemen serving a warrant in the village of Santa Maria. There was no report of police casualties.

Police also recovered a .45-caliber pistol from the slain terrorist who was linked to the numerous kidnappings of Filipinos and foreigners and Christian missionaries, some of them beheaded in captivity.

Halissam was also involved in the 2015 bombing in Zamboanga that killed two people and injured over 50 others. He was one of the Abu Sayyaf facilitators of Malaysian bomber Zulkipli Abdhir, also killed in police operation in 2015 inside the territory of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels in Maguindanao’s Mamasapano town.

Among his kidnap victims were Americans Gerfa Lunsmann and his son Kevin, who were seized in Zamboanga City; Australian adventurer Warren Rodwell, who was kidnapped in Zamboanga Sibugay’s Ipil town; Chinese Yuan Lin Kai and Jian Luo, both snatched in Kabasalan town, also in Zamboanga Sibugay; South Korean Nwi Seong Hong, kidnapped in Zamboanga Sibugay’s Roseller Lim town; and nearly a dozen Filipinos, including members of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Sulu.

Prior to his killing, Halissam was believed to be recruiting members in Zamboanga City to carry out terror attacks in the Zamboanga Peninsula.

Police forces also recovered from Hallisam’s hideout one gallon of ammonium nitrate/fuel oil and other materials used in the manufacture of improvised explosive devices.