ZAMBOANGA SIBUGAY (Mindanao Examiner / 15 Jun) – Philippine Muslim rebels pursuing the kidnappers of an Italian priest have seized a speedboat used by the gunmen in spiriting the missioner in the restive southern region of Mindanao.
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which is currently negotiating peace with Manila, said its fighters destroyed the twin-engine speedboat used in the kidnapping of Pontifical Institute of Foreign Missions (PIME) priest Giancarlo Bossi.
But there were no reports about the fate of Bossi, who was kidnapped June 10 after celebrating mass in the village of Bulawan in Zamboanga Sibugay’s Payao town by rogue MILF rebels with ties to the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group.
Philippine authorities tagged a rogue MILF leader Akiddin Abdusallam and his brother Waning Abdusallam, in the kidnapping Bossi.
The MILF is helping Filipino security forces rescue the 57-year old priest, from Milan.
The kidnappers also tried, but failed to escape to Basilan island, the military said.
Filipino troops, aided by U.S. EP-3 Orion reconnaissance plane, were searching for the hostage in the mountainous area of Naga town in Zamboanga Sibugay.
“We are tracking down the kidnappers in Zamboanga Sibugay. Our forces are combing the province in search for the priest,” A regional army chief, Major General Nehemias Pajarito, told the regional newspaper, the Mindanao Examiner.
The search is mainly concentrated in the mountainous area of Naga town, but the MILF said the government hunt is scaring the locals away because of indiscriminate arrest of Muslim villagers on suspicion they were involved in the kidnapping.
The MILF identified those arrested as Moner, Kaleng Kang, Nano and Atoy, all surnamed Yusop; and Malik and Merham Arajan.
“They are reportedly being grilled to make them confess that they participated in the priest’s abduction,” the chairman of the MILF’s ad hoc joint action group, Abdul Dataya, said.
General Pajarito said the men were only invited for questioning and all have been released.
“There is no indiscriminate arrest of civilians. We are only inviting some people for interview about the kidnapping and they are also release immediately. Civilians are helping us and providing information about the priest,” the general said.
The MILF forged an agreement in 2004 that paved the way for rebel forces to help government hunt down terrorists and criminal elements in areas where the rebel group is actively operating.
The MILF said it is working closely with the government through the ad-hoc joint action group to track down criminals and terrorists.
The rebel group also provided the government of a list of suspected Filipino and Indonesian terrorists operating in Mindanao. It previously helped Philippine authorities track down and arrest suspected Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiya militants in the troubled region.
Early this month, MILF rebels rescued a German national and three other Filipinos kidnapped by bandits in the southern province of North Cotabato.
The four - Thomas Wallraf, from Cologne, Germany and his wife, May Sharon and two others - Diego Daniel, their driver; and Consuelo San Juan, a family friend – were kidnapped while traveling in Pikit town.
Last year, the MILF rescued a kidnapped nine-year old girl, Donna May Ramos, in Basilan island after rebels stormed the hideout of her captors and arrested two men, who were later executed.
Rebels also freed a kidnapped social worker, Henry de Guzman, in the southern province of Lanao del Norte last year. (With a report from Joseph Danda)
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