January 15, 2009, Sun Star Davao, GMA orders PNP, AFP to hit Sayyaf' hard,

January 15, 2009, Sun Star Davao, GMA orders PNP, AFP to hit Sayyaf' hard,

President Gloria Macapagal- Arroyo has ordered the military and police to "hit hard" Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) to put an end to their terroristic activities in Western Mindanao.

The President, in an interview with dxIF Bombo Radyo at Del Monte Lodge in Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon, said, "We shall ensure that the full force of the law is applied to them to put an end to their terrorist activities." 

She added that all the people of the region, Muslim and Christian alike, want peace and order, and the main focus of military operations has been to support overall peace and order to allow people to get on with a normal life.

She added that military actions against lawless elements must be persued without letup to ensure that those who are responsible for the crimes against innocent victims of the region are punished.

The ASG, which is believed to have links with the Al- Qaeda terror network and Jemaah Islamiyah, has been tagged by authorities as the group behind spate of kidnappings and bomb attacks in the region.

Reports said that more than a dozen people had been kidnapped by suspected Abu Sayyaf terrorists headed by Puruji Indmam and Nur Hassan Jamiri in recent months, and that most of them had been freed in exchange for huge ransoms.

The dreaded ASG bandits have also reportedly ventured into "narco- terrorism" to raise money for their activites.

Last year, authorities raided at least three marijuana plantations of ASG elements.