Indonesian seaman kidnappers go to ground<\/p>\n
Agence France-Presse, Manila<\/p>\n
Kidnappers holding three Indonesian seamen in the southern
\nPhilippines are lying low, with no ransom demands or claims of
\nresponsibility issued a week after the abductions, the defense
\ndepartment said on Monday.<\/p>\n
\"It's very unusual,\" department spokesman Melchor Rosales said
\non local television. \"There has been no demand for anything\" or
\neven \"any claim\" for responsibility.<\/p>\n
Gunmen believed to be Abu Sayyaf Muslim guerrillas boarded a
\ntugboat hauling a coal-laden barge near the Abu Sayyaf stronghold
\nof Basilan island on June 17 and seized the vessel's four
\nIndonesian officers.<\/p>\n
The second officer, Ferdinan Joel, escaped and reported the
\nabductions to police on Jolo island, another Abu Sayyaf
\nstronghold, two days later.<\/p>\n
Rosales said that while Joel identified police mugshots of
\nHamsiraji Sali, leader of a Basilan-based Abu Sayyaf unit, the
\nsix other crewmen who were not abducted pointed to somebody else.<\/p>\n
\"It's not yet conclusive, but you have to put weight to Joel's
\ntestimony,\" Rosales said. \"Therefore, the (Abu Sayyaf) group is
\nsuspect.\"<\/p>\n
The gunmen are still holding the boat's skipper Muntu Jacobus
\nWinowatan, chief officer Julkifli, and chief engineer Pieter
\nLerrech.<\/p>\n
However, Rosales said he was not ruling out the possibility
\nthat the three could have been taken by other armed groups
\noperating in the Jolo-Basilan region, which has been wracked by
\nthree decades of Muslim separatist rebellion.<\/p>\n
\"That (shipping) company was subjected to pirate attacks five
\nyears before,\" he said without elaborating.<\/p>\n
In the past, the Abu Sayyaf have issued initial political
\ndemands, including swapping captives for Islamic militant Ramzi
\nYoussef, serving a life term in the United States for the 1993
\nWorld Trade Center bombing. However, they generally settled for
\ncash ransoms.<\/p>\n
The guerrilla group is linked to the al-Qaeda group, the main
\nsuspects in the Sept. 11 attacks in the U.S.<\/p>\n
On Friday the Philippine military claimed they killed senior
\nAbu Sayyaf leader Abu Sabaya in a high seas shootout in the Sulu
\nSea. His body has not been found three days later, Rosales said.<\/p>\n
Sabaya held hostage a U.S. Christian missionary couple for
\nmore than a year. The woman was rescued two weeks ago, but the
\nhusband and a Filipina captive were slain in a rescue attempt.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/indonesian-seaman-kidnappers-go-to-ground-1447893297",
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