RP's Abu Sayyaf rebels behead four villagers
RP's Abu Sayyaf rebels behead four villagers
ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (Reuters): Hooded gunmen from the Abu Sayyaf militia beheaded four villagers on a southern Philippine island after kidnapping more than 30 people, the army said on Friday.
Two villagers managed to escape after the attack on Thursday night on the island of Basilan, 900 km south of Manila, officers said.
Nine villagers were set free and one of them brought back a message from the gunmen that the others would be killed unless a military offensive on the Abu Sayyaf was halted, army chief Lieutenant General Jose Calimlim told reporters.
The Abu Sayyaf is holding at least 21 other hostages on Basilan, including a U.S. missionary couple kidnapped in May.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said the guerrillas could not blackmail her government.
"Probably...because the heat is so strong, the Abu Sayyaf had to do this retaliatory action or diversionary action," she told a news conference.
"That's how war is. War is never one-sided so my reaction to all this is that as a government we cannot be blackmailed."
The military also condemned the recent attack on civilians.
"This is a barbaric act, they killed innocents. This showed how barbaric they are," Calimlim said.
The self-styled Abu Sayyaf rebels claim to be fighting for an independent Islamic state in the south of the mainly Catholic Philippines but their main activity is kidnap for ransom.
The Philippine military has launched intensive operations to rescue the hostages, but so far to little avail.
Police said they recovered four beheaded corpses near the raided village, near a known stronghold of the guerrillas, early on Friday. The dead were identified by family members as among the abducted villagers.
"I fought back and grabbed the rifle of the one who guarded me," one of the two who escaped, Ian Rebollos, 17, told reporters.
The other man who escaped was attacked by the bandits with machetes and played dead. He was found by pursuing troops and was taken to hospital for treatment, the army said.
Calimlim said about 40 Abu Sayyaf men participated in the raid on the village near the town of Lamitan. He said hundreds of troops were pursuing the rebels and the hostages but said his men were at a disadvantage.
"No matter how many battalions you deploy, we cannot cordon the whole place," Calimlim said. "The terrain is so vast, too densely forested and mountainous. The terrain is to their advantage."
Agreement
Meanwhile in Cyberjaya, Malaysia, two Muslim rebel groups that have waged independent separatist wars in the mainly Roman Catholic Philippines initialed a unity agreement on Friday after decades of estrangement.
One group, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), has already struck a peace deal with the Philippine government while the other, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), is in talks with Manila on a separate peace agreement.
"This will be the beginning of a new era for the Moro people," Malaysian Defense Minister Najib Razak said after witnessing the signing ceremony held 50 km (30 miles) south of the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur.
The agreement was reached after two days of talks.
Predominantly Muslim Malaysia is brokering two sets of talks involving Philippine Muslim rebels, one tackling MILF-MNLF unity issues and the other involving the MILF and the Philippine government.
MILF chief negotiator Murad Ebrahim said his side and the MNLF would formally sign the unity agreement on Aug. 7, when Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo visits Malaysia.
"I'm very optimistic about this. We started as one and maybe we will be ending as one," Ebrahim said.
The MNLF and the MILF each claims to represent the five million Muslim minority in the largely Catholic Philippines. Muslim people in the Philippines are known as Moro people.