Police Senior Superintendent Alex Linesis says police commandos raided a house Sunday in Lamitan town on southern Basilan island in search of the former mayor linked to the 2007 bombing that killed a lawmaker but they instead captured Nawaf Jainuddin. The ex-mayor was not in the house, where police seized two shotguns and a grenade.

Linesis said Monday that Jainuddin allegedly was one of several Abu Sayyaf gunmen who seized several hostages and staged deadly attacks in 2001 in Lamitan, a predominantly Christian town in Basilan where the Al-Qaeda-linked militants are active.