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July 9, 2001, Reuters / The Tribune [India] Top Abu Sayyaf commander held,

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MAKATI: Military officials escort arrested Abu Sayyaf leader Nadzmie Sabtulah, in handcuffs, as he is presented to the media at Army headquarters in suburban Makati, south of Manila, on Monday.
— AP/PTI photo


July 9, 2001, Reuters / The Tribune [India] Top Abu Sayyaf commander held

Manila, July 9--Philippine police has arrested a ranking officer of the Abu Sayyaf, the Muslim rebel group holding U.S. and Filipino hostages in the south of the country, officials said today.

Police chief Gen Leandro Mendoza told reporters Nadzmi Sabdulla, alias Commander Global, was arrested on Sunday with three other Abu Sayyaf members in the southern city of Santos.

Sabdulla (40) is the highest ranking Abu Sayyaf member arrested so far. He was one of the commanders on Jolo Island involved in the abduction last year of 21 people, including several Western tourists, from a Malaysian resort, the police said.

He said Sabdulla acted as spokesman for the Abu Sayyaf during negotiations with the government under then President Joseph Estrada. The tourists were released, after ransoms of up to $1 million each were paid, or escaped.

Sabdulla’s faction is separate from the group holding 17 Filipinos and three American hostages abducted from a tourist resort off Palawan island on May 27 and taken to Basilan. The gunmen have freed most of them, after payment of ransoms, but took more Filipino hostages on Basilan. They have also beheaded four of their Filipino captives and claim to have beheaded one American tourist.

Manila has offered a five million pesos ($94,340) reward for information leading to the arrest of Abu Sayyaf commanders, including Sabdulla, and one million pesos for each member.

The Abu Sayyaf, with an estimated force of about 1,000, is one of two groups demanding a Muslim homeland in southern Philippines. But it does little to fight for its professed goals and appears to concentrate on kidnapping for ransom. Reuters


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