Massive effort to rescue 21 hostages fail

Massive effort to rescue 21 hostages fail

SEMPORNA, Malaysia (AP): Intelligence reports said on Tuesday that 21 people seized from a Malaysian diving resort were in the southern Philippines. But by nightfall, rescue efforts in Southeast Asian seas had failed for a second day.

A Filipina waitress who escaped the abduction added weight to claims by Muslim rebels that they carried out the hostage-taking on Sipadan Island off the northeast coast of Borneo on Sunday night.

Filipina Jeneth Cagaanan, 27, said she was in the pantry "when one of the pirates pointed a gun at my neck" and demanded her money and jewelry.

She said she replied to him in Suluk and the assailants understood her. But some of other gunmen spoke Malay, she said.

Suluk, also called Tausug, is a language prevalent in the southern Philippine provinces of Tawi Tawi and Sulu.

One of the assailants wore a vest emblazoned with the initials "MNLF," Cagaanan said. The Moro National Liberation Front, once the Philippine's largest Muslim rebel group, signed a peace accord in 1996. But some former MNLF rebels now belong to other Muslim groups.

A Philippine police intelligence report said late on Tuesday that the hostages had been taken to the province of Sulu at the southern tip of the Philippines. But Lt. Edgar Joseph Andres, who piloted a navy plane which conducted a three-hour search of the sparsely inhabited area, said he spotted no signs of the hostages.

On Tuesday morning, Muslim rebels who have been holding 27 Filipinos hostage on the southern Philippine island of Basilan for a month claimed responsibility for the abductions. Basilan is about 440 kilometers northeast of Semporna, the port town where boats are caught for Sipadan Island.

"Our group is behind the abduction of the foreigners (in Malaysia) and there are still a lot of surprises for the government if they won't listen to us," Abu Sayyaf spokesman Abu Ahmad told a Philippine radio station.

Several hours later, however, Ahmad gave his statement a difference spin.

"I'm not saying that we are the ones," he said. "I'm also not saying we are not the ones. Let's give the government a puzzle."

The 21 people, half of whom were foreign tourists, were abducted by six masked gunmen wielding AK-47s and a rocket launcher. They were then forced onto two waiting boats which sped off toward Philippine waters.

The exact number of hostages has varied since the ordeal began. Sabah state police chief Mamat Talib said on Tuesday that it had been verified that 21 people were forced onto two ships which set out toward the Philippines.

Five people were arrested and interrogated in Sabah, one of two Malaysian states on northern Borneo. Mamat would not give their nationalities.

But when asked if those arrested were connected to the Filipino fishing community along the eastern coastline of Sabah, he said it was possible.

"This is logical, when we have workers from the Philippines here," Mamat said. "They have families and they work here."

Other police sources said some of those arrested were former employees of the Sipadan Island Resort and were tied to the local fishing community. They suspected of knowing some of the gunmen or providing help in the abduction.

Philippine Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado told a news conference that authorities had concluded nothing about the identities of the abductors or where the hostages had been taken.

"All the information that is floating around us is considered raw information," Mercado said. "We believe that in due time, the kidnappers will emerge, whether it is for political purposes or financial reasons."

He added that according to the Finnish ambassador to the Philippines, one of the Finns who had been abducted was suffering from a bleeding ulcer and might be in need of medical care.

Local marine photographer Danny Chin, who hid from gunmen while they were ransacking the resort, told The Star daily that the abductors wrote the words "Abu Sayyaf" on one wall of the resort.

The Abu Sayyaf rebels, who are fighting for an independent Islamic state in the predominantly Catholic Philippines, are demanding the release of Muslim militants jailed in the United States.

The rebels, who announced last week that they had beheaded two male hostages, have demanded freedom for Ramzi Yousef, mastermind of the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York, and Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, accused of conspiring to blow up New York City landmarks.

Some Philippine officials doubted the Abu Sayyaf were responsible, saying they were just trying to gain attention.

"We are not dismissing it outright, but we are cognizant of the fact that there is a propaganda war here and that statements are issued for political effect," Mercado said.

The hostages included two French tourists, three Germans, two South Africans, two Finns and one Lebanese, as well as a Filipino worker and nine Malaysians, authorities said. Mamat declined to specify the nationality of the 21st hostage.