Indonesian sailor escapes Abu Sayyaf<\/p>\n
Agencies, Zamboanga, Philippines<\/p>\n
An Indonesian sailor held hostage for nine months on a southern
\nPhilippine island by the Moro extremist Abu Sayyaf group escaped
\nfrom his captors and told the military on Friday that another
\nIndonesian had apparently died of illness while in captivity.<\/p>\n
The sailor, identified as Julkipli, told The Associated Press
\nhe escaped in the forests of Jolo, an Abu Sayyaf stronghold where
\nhe and two other Indonesians were kidnapped last year. He ran for
\nthree hours until he reached a battalion of Philippine marines
\nlate on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The marines said they at first thought he was a rebel and
\nJulkipli said he thought they were Abu Sayyaf guerrillas.<\/p>\n
Julkipli, 27, said he was told by his captors that one of his
\ncolleagues had died from a lingering illness. He said he could
\nnot personally confirm their account. The Indonesian Embassy also
\nsaid it could not confirm it.<\/p>\n
Lt. Gen. Narciso Abaya, chief of the military's Southern
\nCommand, said Julkipli was able to escape because the rebels were
\ngoing hungry because of continuous military pursuit.<\/p>\n
\"Even those who are guarding (the hostages) are already on low
\nmorale because they are not eating, they cannot sleep, they are
\nalways walking. So he was able to get a chance to escape,\" Abaya
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
\"I am okay. But it's really hard to be in the mountains with
\nthe rebels,\" Julkipli said in halting English as he hobbled into
\na waiting ambulance shortly after he was airlifted to the
\nregional military headquarters in Zamboanga.<\/p>\n
\"I feel happy. I ate plenty of bananas, fruits, fish,\" he said
\nwhen asked how he survived his ordeal.<\/p>\n
Before he was whisked away for a medical examination, he said
\nhe desperately wanted to talk to his family in Semarang, Central
\nJava.<\/p>\n
He said he was able to talk by telephone to his wife, whom he
\nmarried just before he was kidnapped, and that she \"just cried
\nand cried\".<\/p>\n
The three Indonesian tugboat crewmen and four Filipino members
\nof the evangelist group Jehovah's Witnesses were kidnapped
\nseparately on Jolo last year. The Indonesians were taken at
\ngunpoint from a Singapore-owned tugboat on June 17 by 11 men in
\nmilitary fatigues riding in three speedboats off Jolo.<\/p>\n
Two Filipino male evangelists were beheaded by the kidnappers
\nin August, and the Abu Sayyaf - a group labeled terrorist by the
\nUnited States for a series of kidnappings and beheadings - has
\nthreatened to kill the remaining victims if the military mounts a
\nrescue operation.<\/p>\n
Three years ago, Abu Sayyaf guerrillas crossed into
\nneighboring Malaysia by boat and took 21 Western tourists and
\nAsian workers from a dive resort. All but one were subsequently
\nfreed, reportedly in exchange for huge ransoms.<\/p>\n
Other Abu Sayyaf rebels took 102 hostages, including three
\nAmericans, in a yearlong kidnapping spree.<\/p>\n
The Abu Sayyaf has been loosely linked to al-Qaeda. A six-
\nmonth U.S.-Philippine counterterrorism exercise last year on
\nneighboring Basilan island has been credited with breaking up the
\nextremist group and killing and capturing some leaders and
\nmembers. Remnants of the group, including chieftain Khadaffy
\nJanjalani, have fled farther south to Jolo island.<\/p>\n
Abaya said there are about 400 Abu Sayyaf guerrillas left on
\nJolo.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/indonesian-sailor-escapes-abu-sayyaf-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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