April 17, 2003, Philippine Headline News, Abu Sayyaf Arms Cache Found, by Al Jacinto,

April 17, 2003, Philippine Headline News, Abu Sayyaf Arms Cache Found, by Al Jacinto,

Zamboanga City, April 17, 2003 -- Government forces have seized an Abu Sayyaf arms cache Tuesday in the southern Philippine island of Basilan after an admission by a captured rebel subleader led soldiers into an enemy hideout, officials said.

Basilan military chief Col. Bonifacio Ramos said troops have recovered ammunition and explosives in the village of Makiri in the outskirts of Isabela City in Basilan.

The weapons were hidden there by rebel leader Abu Sabaya, who was killed by soldiers in a sea clash last year off Zamboanga del Norte province, while escaping for Jolo island, Ramos said.

"We got the cache and troops are now searching for other weapons left behind or hidden by rebels," he said.

An admission by a captured rebel subleader Bashir Abdul, a subleader of Isnilon Hapilon, about the weapons has led soldiers to the village. Ramos said the military have intensified its offensive against the Abu Sayyaf in Basilan island.

Ramos said Abdul was captured Monday night on Lampinigan island off Basilan after Muslim fishermen secretly informed the military about his presence. "The operation was quick and careful because we do not want the rebel to know that soldiers have surrounded his hideout...the elements of surprise is important in every operation," he said.

Abdul had fled to Jolo island after Sabaya was killed and there he joined forces with local guerrilla leader Radulan Sahiron and later with Khadaffy Janjalani. He returned to Basilan and hid from one island to another to avoid detection by the military until his capture, Ramos said.

The rebel was also among those who guarded kidnapped US hostages Guillermo Sobero and missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham, who were kidnapped along with 17 Filipino holidaymakers by Sabaya's group May 27, 2001 from the posh Dos Palmas resort in Palawan.

Sobero was beheaded by rebels in June 2001, while Martin was shot and killed by his captors in June 2002 during a US-led military rescue operation in Zamboanga del Norte. Gracia Burnham, herself shot and wounded, was rescued by soldiers.

Ramos said the rebel is still being interrogated at a military base in Basilan for his role in the killings of the two US hostages. "We are still investigating him," he said without further elaborating.

The Abu Sayyaf group tied by Western intelligence to al Qaeda network is one of two separatist rebel group still fighting for a Muslim homeland in the southern Philippines. A faction of the Abu Sayyaf is still holding four Filipino evangelists they kidnapped in Jolo island last year. The group is also believed to be holding a fifth victim Gertrudez Tan, a trader kidnapped by suspected rebels on Sunday in the island of Siasi off Jolo.

(Al Jacinto PHNO Mindanao Bureau)