February 12, 2002, Sun Star, Abus attempt to abduct 2 foreign journalists

February 12, 2002, Sun Star, Abus attempt to abduct 2 foreign journalists

ZAMBOANGA -- Abu Sayyaf rebels tried to abduct two foreign freelance journalists covering joint US-Philippine military training exercises in Mindanao, the military said Monday. The two were Canadian Christopher Johnson and Urban Hamid, said to be a French national of Egyptian descent, military officials said.

The pair, who arrived here last week, were preparing to board a ferry bound for nearby Basilan island on Friday when two men posing as Army soldiers approached them and said they had been sent to assist the reporters. The journalists became suspicious and contacted the military, who told them to return immediately to their hotel in Zamboanga city.

"The two journalists declined (the invitation of the suspects) after sensing danger because the men failed to show their identification cards," said Lieutenant Colonel Fredesvindo Covarrubias, commander of the Southern Command's civil relations group. "Intelligence reports indicated that the men are Abu Sayyaf members trying to lure the (journalists)," said Captain Harold Cabunoc, commander of the Army Scout Ranger unit in Basilan.

"We did not send anybody to fetch foreign journalists," he said. Also Monday, the military reported that 10 Abu Sayyaf members based in Sulu have been killed in fresh clashes Sunday in a remote barangay in the town of Patikul.  

Their comrades in Basilan holding a US Christian missionary couple and a Filipina nurse, according to a military warning issued last week, are planning to abduct foreign journalists covering the US-RP exercises being held in this city and in the nearby island. Dozens of foreign reporters have been flocking to this port city to cover the six-month US-Philippine exercises that began last month.

The exercises are aimed at helping the Philippines crush the Abu Sayyaf, a small group of Islamic militants linked to the al-Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden, the alleged terrorist mastermind of the September 11 attacks in the US. The military offensive against the Abu Sayyaf in Sulu resulted in the death of 10 rebels, said Col. Romeo Tolendtino, Jolo Army Brigade chief.

"Based on the assessment of our troops that conducted the clearing operations, more or less 10 rebels were killed," Tolentino said. The fresh fighting came two days after six government troops, including a young lieutenant, were killed in a gun battle with Abu Sayyaf gunmen in Basilan.

Military Southern Command spokesman, Captain Noel Detoyato, said government forces were pursuing the gunmen in Patikul's hinterland villages. "There is an ongoing military operation in the area and our troops are pursuing the Abu Sayyaf," Detoyato added.

More than 600 US troops are also joining local soldiers in a six-month operation to crush the guerrillas. Officials explained that American special forces "advisers" would be joining Filipino soldiers in patrols against the Abu Sayyaf in Basilan. The US soldiers would be armed and could fire back if attacked.

They could face though a far larger adversary than expected as the Abu Sayyaf is backed by other guerilla groups. In past operations, larger guerrilla groups have come to the aid of the Abu Sayyaf, Brigadier General Edilberto Adan warned. There are no more than 300 Abu Sayyaf fighters on the island, but they could be reinforced by other elements, including units of the 12,500-member Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), Adan told reporters.

There are about 1,000 MILF separatist guerrillas on Basilan as well as about 500 members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), a second separatist group that signed a peace treaty with Manila in 1996. Many of the ex-rebels had not disarmed, Adan said. "The nature of the Abu Sayyaf group (problem) in Basilan is such there are other armed groups in the area. They could be the MILF who are scattered in the island, who from time to time reinforce the Abu Sayyaf," Adan said.

"So while we initially engage 20 (gunmen), after one hour or two hours of firefight we find ourselves engaged with 100." He said many of the gunmen from rival armed groups were related, and that some in the economically depressed island hire themselves out to the Abu Sayyaf. Two-thirds of Basilan's 350,000 residents are Muslims. The military had warned the MILF against attacking the American troops, saying there would be swift retribution. The MILF leadership signed a ceasefire with Manila last year, and is holding peace talks with the government.

Adan stressed that the training exercise, called "Balikatan" (shoulder to shoulder), targeted "notional terrorists, which happens to be the Abu Sayyaf." So "whoever Philippines labels as terrorists, the Americans will just follow our decision." Adan said that in an actual firefight, "it's difficult to say" which gunmen were from the Abu Sayyaf and which were from the MILF or MNLF.

Under the proposed terms of reference of the operation, about 160 US Special Forces troops in groups of twos will accompany Filipino patrols on Basilan to help the Pentagon assess the training and equipment needs of their Filipino counterparts. Adan said the actual training would not start unless the terms of reference were signed. Officials have said this should be done within a few days.

Adan said a majority of Filipinos backed the US involvement, and dismissed concerns that a combat situation could arise in Basilan that would prod the US troops to act in a manner that is "disagreeable to us." (Sunnex/AFP)