RP in battle stance to rescue hostages
RP in battle stance to rescue hostages
Agence France-Presse, Zamboanga, Philippines
Philippine forces were on Monday poised to mount an offensive to
rescue four Filipina Christians held hostage by gunmen linked to
Abu Sayyaf rebels in the troubled southern island of Jolo,
officials said.
The kidnappers, led by Moin Sahiron, a nephew of Abu Sayyaf
leader Radullan Sahiron, have been given until Tuesday to free
four members of the Jehovah's Witness Christian group they seized
last week.
Two Muslim guides traveling with the group were freed, but two
others were beheaded in a grisly reminder that the Abu Sayyaf
remains a threat despite U.S.-Philippine counter-terrorism
operations that ended in the south last month.
Some 4,000 Marines, army scout rangers and counter-terrorism
troops have been dispatched to track down and crush the Abu
Sayyaf and its offshoot groups in Jolo, a lawless southern
frontier where Moro outlaws have for centuries sought sanctuary.
Jolo army chief Brig. Gen. Romeo Tolentino said the gunmen and
their captives were believed to be constantly moving in dense
jungle to evade troops.
"Our troops are combing the jungle inch for inch, but the
kidnappers are constantly on the run," said Tolentino from his
command post on the island.
In Manila, Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes called an Abu Sayyaf
demand for a military pull-out "preposterous", but he also
expressed hope ongoing negotiations to free the hostages led by
local officials would be successful by the time the ultimatum
ended on Tuesday.
"We're hoping it would succeed. We hope it will succeed, but
we are poised and we will conduct operations against these
kidnappers," Reyes told reporters.
"The government is not going to pull out (its troops from
Jolo). The president has instructed us to go all out, get them
and so that's what we're gonna do."
Armed forces spokesman Brig. Gen. Eduardo Purificacion said
troops had located the general area where the gunmen were holding
the hostages and an assault would be carried if talks to free the
four failed.
Apart from the Filipino Christians, three Indonesian sailors
kidnapped in June are also being held hostage by another group of
armed men on Jolo.
Gunmen holding the Indonesians have demanded a ransom of 15
million pesos (US$288,461) in exchange for their freedom, which
was rejected by authorities.
The Abu Sayyaf, or Bearers of the Sword, was formed in the
early 1990s by Afghan-trained Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani
ostensibly to fight for an independent Muslim state in the
southern Philippines.
Over the years, the Abu Sayyaf deteriorated into banditry,
often pillaging Christian villages and kidnapping foreign
tourists, missionaries and even local businessmen for ransom.
The group kidnapped dozens of tourists in May last year,
including three Americans.