RP military vows quick rescue of Indonesians
RP military vows quick rescue of Indonesians
Agence France-Presse, Jolo, Philippines
A senior Philippines military official said on Thursday he
expects to recover three kidnapped Indonesian seamen being held
by Abu Sayyaf rebels in this southern island within three days.
Southern military chief Maj. Gen. Ernesto Carolina said the
three Indonesians, who were seized at sea on Monday, were being
held in a district near Luuk town and that the area was
surrounded by police and military forces.
"Within three days, we will get the three remaining Indonesian
nationals," Carolina told reporters on a visit to Jolo town, the
capital of Jolo island.
Marines and navymen have been posted on all the small islands
near Luuk to ensure that the kidnappers do not try to flee
through these islets, the general said.
Four Indonesian seamen were taken from a tugboat hauling a
barge of coal in the waters off the southern Philippines by
members of the Abu Sayyaf, a Muslim guerrilla group with alleged
links to the al-Qaeda terror network of Osama bin Laden.
One of the four, second officer Ferdinan Joel, escaped from
his captors on Wednesday and confirmed that his compatriots were
being held by the Abu Sayyaf on Jolo.
Joel, who emerged bruised and hungry from the jungles, singled
out from police mugshots, Hamsiraji Sali, a top Abu Sayyaf leader
based in Jolo, as the leader of the kidnapping band.
Just 10 days before the Indonesian's abduction, Philippine
troops staged a rescue operation for three hostages held by the
Abu Sayyaf for nearly a year. U.S. missionary Gracia Burnham was
rescued but her husband Martin and a Filipina nurse were slain in
the rescue.
"Ferdinan (Joel) told military investigators that two young
women brought them food and that when he saw a chance to escape,
he did," said Jolo military commander Col. Romeo Tolentino.
The gunmen still have the boat's skipper Muntu Jacobus
Winowatan, chief officer Julkipli, and chief engineer Pieter
Lerrech.
Defense department spokesman Melchor Rosales stressed on
Thursday that Joel's statements were a "preliminary
identification" of the suspects. The authorities are not yet 100
percent sure that Abu Sayyaf gunmen were really involved, he
added.
The activities of the Abu Sayyaf, which also abducted a group
of western tourists from Malaysia in 2000 and then murdered U.S.
hostage Guillermo Sobero and more than a dozen other Filipino
captives last year, has led Washington to deploy 1,000 military
advisers to the southern Philippines.
The Pentagon announced on Wednesday that the advisers would
join Filipino troops on combat patrols to hunt down Abu Sayyaf
rebels on the southern island of Basilan, where the Burnhams were
kept for nearly a year.
About 180 U.S. Special Forces men have been training Filipino
battalions on Basilan, but rather than working directly with
soldiers in the field have provided advice from the relative
safety of headquarters.
Allowing them to train at the company level means they will be
able to advise Filipino soldiers as they engage in operations.
The step is significant because the presence of US soldiers on
Filipino foot patrols raises the risk of them being drawn into
combat.
The Philippines military estimates there are a mere 141 Abu
Sayyaf gunmen left after a year-long military campaign on Basilan
and Jolo islands.
U.S. forces on Basilan came under fire for the first time this
week when unidentified gunmen opened fire on two U.S. Marines and
a Filipino guarding a U.S. Navy road construction crew there. The
Marines returned fire.