Cops Search For Missing Briton In South RP

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / May 09, 2008) – Police mounted a search Friday for a British national who was reported missing while visiting the southern port city of Zamboanga, reports said.

Local radio reports said James David Rowe was missing since Thursday after he failed to return to his hotel in downtown Zamboanga. Rowe checked in at the Amil Hotel and left with a Filipino man, the Radio Agong reported.

“The foreigner left with a Filipino man and never returned. We reported the matter to the police. We don’t know what happened to him. His things are all inside the room,” a woman at the hotel’s front desk told the Mindanao Examiner.

She said Rowe was alone when he checked in at the hotel, but refused to elaborate further, saying, she is not authorized to talk about it.

Mayor Celso Lobregat has ordered the police to search for the missing foreigner, his spokesperson, Sheila Covarrubias, said. “Police is doing all it can to locate the foreigner,” she said in a separate interview.

Initial police reports, she said, showed that Rowe is engage in buying and selling of automotive spare parts and authorities are investigating whether his business has anything to do with his disappearance.

“At this time, we still do not know what really happened. We can only speculate,” Covarrubias said.

The United States Embassy last month said it received information that extremists may be planning to kidnap Americans or other foreigners at hotels or other public places in Zamboanga City.

It warned Americans not to travel to Zamboanga which had been targeted in the past by Abu Sayyaf militants whose group is tied to al-Qaeda terror network.

Australia also issued a similar warning last month and told its citizens not to travel to Zamboanga and other areas in the southern region. Two homemade bombs exploded in Zamboanga City a week after the US and Australian warnings. (Mindanao Examiner)

Do Not Travel To Mindanao, Koreans Told As Trouble Heats Up In Restive Region

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / 15 Aug) – South Korea on Wednesday warned its citizens against traveling to the southern Philippines, where security forces are battling Abu Sayyaf terrorists and insurgents.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade told Koreans to refrain from traveling to Mindanao island, citing security reasons, the Korea Times reported on its website Wednesday.

”The Philippine government is now conducting military operations to crack down anti-government militants there after a carnage on government troops done last Friday by the violent insurgents,” according to the ministry.

Tension in high in the region because of sporadic fighting between security forces and militants, it said.

It was not immediately known how the travel van would affect Korean interests in the southern Philippines.

Many Koreans live in Mindanao, particularly in Davao and Zamboanga cities, where they have investments from different business mostly in resorts, clubs and restaurants.

The United States also warned its citizens from traveling to Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago because of the spate of bombings and kidnappings of foreigners.

The Philippine military poured more than 10,000 soldiers on the islands of Basilan and Jolo to fight growing threats of terrorism and insurgency.

Security officials said 41 soldiers and more than 40 gunmen were killed in pitch battle since last month on the two islands, both part of the Muslim autonomous region.

RP Police Foils Bomb Attack In Troubled South

COTABATO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 29 Apr) – Philippine soldiers detonated a homemade bomb Sunday in the restive North Cotabato province, south of Manila, officials said.

Officials said the bomb was left near a police post in Tacurong City, but had been discovered before it was to explode. “Soldiers detonated the bomb after police manning the post discovered the explosive,” Maj. Gen. Raymundo Ferrer, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, told the independent regional newspaper, the Mindanao Examiner.

No group claimed responsibility for the foiled attack, said Col. Danny Garcia, the local army commander.

“We are still investigating who is behind this failed bombing attempt,” Garcia said in a separate interview. “At this point, we cannot pinpoint to any group, but we have tightened security around Tacurong.”

He said the bomb was made from C4 explosive and rigged to a timer. “It had steel pellets and some components taken from a mortar rocket that would trigger detonation,” Garcia said.

The discovery of the bomb came just a day after the United States warned its citizens against traveling to Mindanao island and the Sulu Archipelago in the southern Philippines because of heightened terror activities.

Aside from the United States, Canada an Australia also told their citizens not to travel to the troubled region, where security forces are battling members of the al-Qaeda affiliate Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiya and Moro National Liberation Front rebels.

A grenade attack last week in North Cotabato’s Pikit town injured three people working for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Unidentified men tossed two grenades on the USAID field office and fled. No group claimed responsibility for the attack.

Another bomb attack last week in Midsayap town also in North Cotabato also injured one civilian. A man was also killed after a bomb he was transporting exploded in Cotabato City in Maguindanao province near North Cotabto.

Abu Sayyaf militants also beheaded six construction workers and a fisherman they kidnapped in Parang town in Jolo island in the Sulu Archipelago two weeks ago. (With a report from Mark Navales and Juan Magtanggol)

Korea Sounds Sayyaf Alert

DAVAO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 17 Feb) – South Korea on Saturday warned its citizens not to travel to the southern Philippines because of possible bombings by Abu Sayyaf militants whose group is tied to al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiya.

The warning was issued by the National Intelligence Service and said citizens should refrain from traveling to troubled region, including Sulu Archipelago and Palawan island.

South Korea did not give any specific details about the threats or whether its citizens are targeted by terrorists. Many South Korean tourists travel to Philippines, especially Cebu and Palawan for summer holidays.

Philippine authorities tightened security in many areas in the south, including Zamboanga City, where a small group of Korean tourists are staying, because of Abu Sayyaf threats to bomb key cities in Mindanao.

Filipino security forces, guided by U.S. intelligence, are battling hundreds of Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiya militants in Jolo island.

Washington listed both the Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiya as foreign terrorist organizations and offered as much as $10 million for the capture of Indonesian bomber Dulmatin, believed hiding in Jolo island, about 950 km south of Manila. (Mindanao Examiner)