May 20, 2000, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Abu kills 4 soldiers takes boy hostage,

May 20, 2000, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Abu kills 4 soldiers takes boy hostage,

AMBOANGA CITY--Abu Sayyaf rebels ambushed pursuing Army troops in Lantawan, Basilan Thursday, killing four soldiers and taking another young boy hostage. Police said the rebels snatched the 16-year-old son of a slain Army soldier after overrunning an Army detachment in the town Wednesday, becoming the 10th hostage still in the hands of retreating Abu Sayyaf abductors. 

Twenty-four other soldiers were wounded in the encounter Thursday with Abu Sayyaf rebels in Barangay Baongis in Lantawan. Supt. Angelito Casimiro, chief of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force 
(PAOCTF) here, said the Army soldiers were conducting operations to rescue the Abu Sayyaf's nine remaining Filipino hostages, when ambushed at around 8:30 a.m. Thursday. 

Casimiro refused to identify the slain and wounded soldiers, saying their relatives should be informed first. He said bodies of four slain rebels were also recovered. ''But so far, there were no traces of its leader, Khaddafy Janjalani and spokesperson Abu Ahmad Salayuddin,'' Casimiro said. 

Three of the slain rebels were identified as Abu Muktar, Abu Mijal and Abu Musa. Supt. Ahmadul Pangambayan, Basilan police chief, said they are still trying to locate the 16-year-old son of a certain Sergeant Quintos, who was killed in an encounter with suspected Abu Sayyaf rebels in Barangay Lower 
Matikang in Lantawan Wednesday. 

Pangambayan said the boy was reported missing after the rebels overran a detachment of the Army's 5th Infantry Battalion. ''Witnesses claimed that the boy was snatched by the armed men,'' he said. The Abu Sayyaf is still holding two teachers and seven children, remnants of the group of 31 persons snatched by the rebel group on March 20. 

Sixteen of the hostages had been rescued while six others were killed by the rebels. Two of them were beheaded. Another group of hostages, who are relatives of Abu Sayyaf leader Janjalani, also remains in the hands of a vigilante group led by Abdul Mijal. 

Mijal, a former Abu Sayyaf member, abducted Janjalani's relatives in retaliation for the March 20 abduction. Two of Mijal's daughters were among those still being held hostage by the Abu Sayyaf. The military could not say where Mijal and his hostages are. 

In Davao City, the Bishops Ulama Forum (BUF), in a statement drafted during its 13th assembly on May 18 in Cagayan de Oro City, said it recognizes the ''excesses'' committed by the Abu Sayyaf when it kidnapped children, innocent civilians and foreigners to advance their causes. 

''We question the use of force of armed groups in holding hostage innocent civilian populations for their own ends,'' the BUF statement said. But the BUF noted that the Abu Sayyaf's action should not be linked to the Muslim community nor to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) ''as both condemn such excesses as alien to Islam.'' 

But the BUF also said that it recognized ''the need to rebuild peace in Mindanao that transcends the limited goals of a military agenda or the political ambitions of individual leaders.''--Julie Alipala-Inot, Jowel F. Canuday, PDI Mindanao Bureau