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Home/ stevenwarran's Library/ Notes/ May 20, 2003, The Philippine Star, Abu Sayyaf bombing plot in Zambo bared, by Roel Pareño,

May 20, 2003, The Philippine Star, Abu Sayyaf bombing plot in Zambo bared, by Roel Pareño,

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May 20, 2003, The Philippine Star, Abu Sayyaf bombing plot in Zambo bared, by Roel Pareño, 

ZAMBOANGA CITY — Military intelligence has uncovered a plot of the Abu Sayyaf gang to bomb strategic points in Zamboanga City after two women evangelists escaped last week from the bandits' jungle hideout in Sulu. 

Maj. Gen. Triponio Salazar, commander of the Army's 1st Division based in Western Mindanao, said they have heightened security in the city to thwart any attempt of the Abu Sayyaf to wreak havoc through bombings and other terrorist acts. 

"Based on the information gathered, there will be bombings in Zamboanga City," he said. 

"The target was initially scheduled (for) Friday and Saturday. We are on heightened alert, we have documents (to show that) Zamboanga City is a target (of a terrorist attack)," Salazar said. 

Troops have also increased security along the Zamboanga-Pagadian Highway after receiving information that the Abu Sayyaf might attack from Sibugay Bay, Iliana Bay and the Eleven Islands east of Zamboanga City, he added. 

Maj. Gen. Roy Kyamko, Armed Forces Southern Command chief, said residents should be vigilant against any attempt of the Abu Sayyaf to take new hostages. 

"We foresee the possibility of hostage-taking activity by the Abu Sayyaf," he said. "We enjoin the public to be more vigilant to preempt this situation. I may be branded as an alarmist, but I would rather be labeled as such rather than have another batch of hostages." 

The public's vigilance could prevent the Abu Sayyaf from taking hostages, he added. 

Troops have intensified their offensive against the Abu Sayyaf band in Jolo as the Air Force resumed air strikes on enemy positions after Friday's escape by Norie Bendijo and Florida "Flora" Montulo of the Jehovah's Witnesses. 

After nine months of jungle captivity, the two evangelists were recovered by Marines in the mountainous coastal town of Patikul in Sulu. 

Lt. Col. Daniel Lucero, Armed Forces spokesman, said their escape has left al-Qaeda-linked guerrillas with no other known hostage except a Filipino man Roland Ullahwho the military suspects may have either joined his captors or refused to escape for unknown reasons. 

"Before, we could not use our big guns and close air support for fear we might hit the hostages," he said. "Now, we're past using gloves and can already use our fist to smash the (bandits)." 

Lucero said soldiers have waged assaults cautiously to avoid a repeat of the death of American missionary Martin Burnham and Filipino nurse Edibora Yap, who were killed during an Army commando raid to rescue the hostages last year in a mountain rainforest in Zamboanga del Norte. 

Martin's wife, Gracia, was wounded and lived to write a book about their yearlong captivity by the Abu Sayyaf. 

Although she indicated in the book, "In the Presence of My Enemies," that the bullets that killed her husband may have come from the soldiers, there has been no official finding on who fired the fatal shots. 

Lucero said the Abu Sayyaf had used hostages as human shields and ransomed off the wealthier ones. 

The estimated 300 Abu Sayyaf band on Jolo separately kidnapped four Indonesian seamen and six Filipino members of the Jehovah's Witnesses last year. 

Three of the Indonesians separately escaped and one died in captivity. 

Two male evangelists were beheaded and four women escaped, including Bendijo and Montulo last Friday. 

US forces trained and armed Filipino troops last year in a counterterrorism exercise credited with partly crippling an Abu Sayyaf faction in Basilan. — Roel Pareño

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