A KEY Abu Sayyaf commander killed in a US-backed airstrike in the southern Philippines was planning terror attacks, including new kidnappings of foreigners and bombings, when he was slain, security officials said yesterday.

The pre-dawn military bombing offensive on Thursday killed longtime Abu Sayyaf commander Umbra Jumdail and several other militants while they slept in huts and hammocks in a jungle hideout on southern Jolo island, officials said.

Military spokesman Col. Arnulfo Marcelo Burgos said Jumdail's death was a major blow to his al-Qaida-linked group because he harbored several Southeast Asian terrorist figures, who have provided funds and bomb-making trainings.

He had a larger civilian following compared with more brutal Abu Sayyaf commanders which helped him evade military offensives.

"He had the charisma and was the real link used by foreign militants," Burgos said.

Jumdail's group was planning some kind of terrorist attacks when he was killed, Burgos said, adding intelligence indicated that six Malaysian militants traveled to Sulu in December and joined his group for unspecified reasons. AP