/ stevenwarran's Library/ Notes/ June 13, 2002, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 600 Troops Hunt Sabaya Band; Abus have new have new hostages, says MILF commander,
June 13, 2002, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 600 Troops Hunt Sabaya Band; Abus have new have new hostages, says MILF commander,
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June 13, 2002, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 600 Troops Hunt Sabaya Band; Abus have new have new hostages, says MILF commander,
ZAMBOANGA City – Abu Sayyaf bandits kidnapped new hostages six days after American missionary Martin Burnham and Filipino nurse Ediborah Yap, who were held captive for about a year, were killed in a military rescue, according to a commander of a Muslim armed group. Julhambrie Misuari, a commander of the erstwhile separatist Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), told reporters that about 20 Abu Sayyaf bandits with some hostages attempted to dock at "Isla Bisaya-bisaya, but were met with fire from MNLF men stationed there."
Misuari, who figured in the November siege of this city's Cabatangan Complex, said an MNLF member was wounded in the clash. Colonel Alexander Yapching, commander of the Task Force Zamboanga, confirmed the skirmishes but said the military was still verifying whether the Abu Sayyaf was involved. Melchor Rosales, spokesperson for the operation against the bandits, said the military had received no report about new hostages.
Chief Inspector Rolando Fernandez said fishermen reported sighting gunmen with some unarmed people in a cluster of islets off this city. "The villagers disclosed the group was bringing unarmed people believed to be new hostages. This has yet to be confirmed," Fernandez said. Fernandez said the sighting of suspected hostages occurred in a cluster of islets called Eleven Islands where armed men were seen getting off a speedboat and landing on one of the islets at 9:30 a.m.
Zamboanga police quoted fishermen at Eleven Islands saying Abu Sayyaf bandits might have taken hostages for use as guides to escape Filipino troops trying to track them down after Friday's firefight. Defense officials denied that the unit headed by Abu Sabaya slipped out of the Sibuco-Sirawai area. Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes told defense reporters that the group was still in the area. Rosales backtracked from his earlier statement that the Abu Sayyaf strength had been reduced to a "low of 40 and to a high of 60". This time, Rosales pegged the number to nine, the same number that came out in news reports Wednesday.
600 Rangers and Marines
In Sirawai town in the province of Zamboanga del Norte, the surviving nine members of the Abu Sayyaf team that guarded Martin Burnham, his wife Gracia and Yap are now being pursued by 600 members of various special military units like Army Scout Rangers and Marines. Heavy rains have slowed down the search for Abu Sabaya and his men in the hinterland villages of Sirawai.
Military officials said the nine led by Sabaya was heading back to Barangay Kulasian, near the site of the encounter on June 7. At least four teams of Special Warfare Group from the Philippine Navy were called in to seal off the waters in Sirawai and in nearby Sibuco. The nine are not moving as a group to avoid detection, according to Bashier Ordoñez, an aide of Sabaya captured in Barangay Culasian near the site of the firefight.
Western Mindanao police chief Simeon Dizon said he had ordered the local police to verify reports that the retreating bandits had abducted some villagers and were using them as human shields. Provincial police director Marcelino Lipana belied the report. But he said his men continued to warn villagers about the possibility of the retreating Abu Sayyaf bandits seizing new hostages.
Lipana said he had placed at least 62 villages in Sibuco and Sirawai under tight security "because the Abu Sayyaf Group, according to the captured aide of Sabaya identified as Bashier Ordoñez, has split up."
MILF offer
As the search continues for the Abu Sayyaf, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), a Muslim secessionist group negotiating with the government, has offered help. MILF spokesperson Eid Kabalu told the Inquirer the offer was in relation to the recently signed agreement between the rebel group and the government on cooperation against criminality.
He said the MILF could prove to be "elemental in the success of the anti- Abu Sayyaf drive because our people there know the terrain by heart." "All we need is further coordination because the coordination aspect has been clearly spelled out in the agreement signed in Malaysia,'' Kabalu said.
In Manila, Senate President Franklin Drilon urged Malacañang to invoke the anti-terrorism tripartite agreement entered into by the Philippines with Malaysia and Indonesia to prevent Abu Sayyaf bandits from seeking sanctuaries in the two neighboring countries.
For his part, oppositionist Senator Aquilino Pimentel asked the Senate to summon Reyes to explain the failure of military intelligence in the manhunt for the Abu Sayyaf bandits and their hostages. Pimentel said the intelligence fiasco was evident when the bandits and their hostages broke through a naval blockade to flee from the island province of Basilan to the Zamboanga peninsula.
Pimentel brushed aside the claim of Malacañang and the military that the pursuit operations were a "strategic success". He likened the "strategic success" to "a doctor who says the operation was successful but the patient died." Martin P. Marfil, Julie S. Alipala and Hernan P. de la Cruz with reports from Allan A. Nawal, Rocky Nazareno and Cynthia D. Balana
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