Photo shows Abu Sayyaf terrorist leader Albader Parad in this video grab. (Reuters)ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Feb. 09, 2009) – Five Filipino soldiers were wounded on Monday after security forces tried to breach a cordon set up by the Abu Sayyaf in an attempt to rescue three kidnapped Red Cross workers, officials said.
Officials said troops were pursuing the Abu Sayyaf under Albader Parad and Abu Pula whose group is holding Swiss national Andreas Notter, Italian Eugenio Vagni and Filipino Mary Jean Lacaba in the hinterlands of Indanan town.
"The soldiers were trying to breach the Abu Sayyaf cordon and fighting erupted and five of our soldiers are wounded. The rescue operation is going in Sulu and this will continue without let-up," Lt. Steffani Cacho, a regional military spokeswoman, told the Mindanao Examiner.
The soldiers had been under sniper fires the past three days, she said.
It was unknown what triggered the rescue operation, but negotiations between the Abu Sayyaf and the Red Cross had been going the past week with no indications the hostages would be freed.
Unconfirmed reports said the Abu Sayyaf had demanded as much as $10 million ransom, but the Red Cross denied the kidnappers had made such demand.
Manila has rejected any ransom negotiations and Sulu Gov. Sakur Tan said the kidnappers should release all the hostages without ransom.
Cacho said troops were tailing the Abu Sayyaf and their hostages after the gunmen fled the village of Kuppong where the fighting erupted. She said the safety of the hostages is the main concern of the soldiers. "Their safety if our concern, but the operation will have to continue until we recover the hostages," she said.
Bounty hunters have joined armed civilians in tracking down Abu Sayyaf, a security official said.
Hundreds of civilians have armed themselves and joined police and military in sealing off the hinterlands of Indanan town.
Many of the armed civilians were attracted with the huge bounties on the heads of Parad and Pula and their followers.
The United States has offered as much as US$ 5 million for known Abu Sayyaf leaders under the Rewards for Justice System. Manila also set aside P100 million rewards for the capture of Abu Sayyaf terrorists and their leaders – dead or alive.
Philippine and U.S. authorities linked the Abu Sayyaf to the spate of bombings in the southern Filipino region, including executions of civilians and kidnappings for ransom to raise fund and support its terror campaign.
The Abu Sayyaf has pillaged small towns, bombed passenger ships, commuter buses, Catholic churches and public places, including malls and department stores and killed hundreds of innocent people since the time it was founded in the early 1990s.
The Abu Sayyaf kidnapped 21 foreigners in a cross-border raid in Sabah, Malaysia in 2000 and ransomed off the hostages with the help of Filipino negotiators. It also killed two of three U.S. citizens kidnapped in 2001 after failing to seek the release of al-Qaeda bomber, Pakistani Ramzi Yousef, from U.S. prison.
Yousef, who first bombed the World Trade Center in February 1993, was the mastermind of the "Bojinka Plot," a large-scale terrorist attack on U.S. airliners and a plan to kill Pope John Paul II in the Philippines in 1995. He bombed a Philippine airliner bound for Japan, killing one passenger and the Abu Sayyaf owned up the attack. Yousef then fled the Philippines and was arrested in Pakistan. Six years later the al-Qaeda attacked the WTC.
Philippine military officials say the number of Abu Sayyaf militants have dwindled from several hundreds in the 1990s down to about 200 in 2007. But the number is not permanent either as members of other rebel groups and criminals come and go as Abu Sayyaf militants.
Sixteen of Sulu's 19 mayors also signed a manifesto with Governor Sakur Tan giving their support to resolve the kidnapping crisis and at the same time condemning the Abu Sayyaf atrocities.
In a manifesto, the mayors commit to undertake the following: "That we give full and undivided support to the Hon. Abdusakur Tan, Provincial Governor of Sulu and Chairman of the Crisis Management Committee / Area Coordinating Center, the Task Force ICRC, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Philippine National Police to resolve the issue of the ICRC kidnapping in the province of Sulu."
"That we collectively commit human and material resources within our means and control if need to be effect the early and safe release of the hostages. That we condemn in the strongest term any form of action by irresponsible and lawless elements that seek to wreak havoc not only in our respective areas of jurisdiction, but in the whole of Sulu."
The manifesto further reads: "That we convey our sympathies and concern for the sufferings and anguish of the families and loved ones of the victims. That we call on all our constituents to extend full support to the efforts of the Crisis Management Committee and the Task Force ICRC so that an early solution to the crisis is found."
Muslim religious and business groups also condemned the kidnapping of the three aid workers and other abductions in Basilan and Zamboanga City. Called the Sabiel Al-Muhtadeen Foundation, the group said "these are acts against humanity and against the teachings of Islam because Islam teaches peace, harmony and sobriety for all human beings at all time."
"Let it be known to the public that there is no verse in the Holy Quor'an and no Hadith of Prophet Mohammad S.A.W. legalizing of promoting the act of kidnapping any one. Hence, this is an act worth condemning and deserving to be totally stopped."
The Abu Sayyaf, which means the "bearer of the sword," was tagged as a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. and also linked by the Filipino authorities to the spate of kidnappings and killing of innocent Muslims in Sulu and Basilan provinces. (Mindanao Examiner)
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