Sri Lankan peace activist kidnapped in Basilan island

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Feb. 13, 2009) – Filipino gunmen seized a Sri Lankan peace activist in the troubled island of Basilan, south of the Philippines, where troops are fighting Abu Sayyaf terrorists, officials said.

Officials said about a dozen gunmen seized Umar Jaleel from the nonpartisan group called Non-Violent Peace Force inside his headquarters in Lamitan town before dawn.

“There is an ongoing operation. Troops are pursuing the kidnappers in the hinterlands,” Marine Brig. Gen. Rustico Guerrero, commander of military forces in Basilan Island, south of Zamboanga City, told the Mindanao Examiner.

A Filipino caretaker who was also taken by gunmen was able to escape and reported the matter to the authorities, he said.

No group claimed responsibility for the latest kidnapping, but Abu Sayyaf terrorists and Moro rebels are actively operating in Basilan, where they are holding hostage six more people.

“We don’t know the motive of the kidnapping and even a peace activist was not spared by the lawless elements,” Guerrero said.

He said Jaleel’s group is monitoring the implementation of the 1996 peace agreement between the government and the Moro National Liberation Front. “Jaleel is a good man and I have worked with him in the past in promoting peace in Basilan,” he said.

The Non-Violent Peace Force is also operating in Sulu province, where the Abu Sayyaf kidnapped three Red Cross workers, Swiss national Andreas Notter, Italian Eugenio Vagni and Filipino Mary Jean Lacaba.

The Abu Sayyaf reportedly demanded as much as $10 million ransom. (Mindanao Examiner)