A US C17 Globe master cargo plane flies over Zamboanga City. Muslim villagers in nearby Jolo island are holding hostage a downed US spy drone and demanded P100,000 ransom. (Zamboanga Journal) ZAMBOANGA CITY (Zamboanga Journal / 17 Feb) Muslim villagers are holding for ransom a crashed unmanned US drone used in military exercises against the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group in the southern Philippine island of Jolo.
The remote-controlled spy plane crashed February 10 in the mountain enclave of Marang in Indanan town, a known lair of the Moro National Liberation Front, in Jolo island and was recently recovered by villagers.
It was not immediately known what caused the crash, but local television news showed footage of a villager holding the ill-fated drone, whose wing span is about one meter long and has a slim body and a video camera mounted on its belly.
The white drone appeared to be intact, but security sources in Jolo said villagers holding the aircraft hostage were demanding as much as P100,000 ($1,934) ransoms in exchange for the aircraft.
Sources did not say if the US or Philippine military are willing to pay the money to get back the drone, which may contain valuable information about the Abu Sayyaf or its hideouts on the island.
But one thing is sure; the recovery of the spy plane has put in jeopardy efforts by both countries to track down members of the Abu Sayyaf, blamed for the spate of bombings and killings in the Philippines. And it also exposed the clandestine use of unmanned US drones against the Abu Sayyaf, which is known only to top RP and US military officials.
Filipino military officials fear militant groups with links to the Abu Sayyaf and communist insurgents can take advantage of this and use the issue to force the US troops out of Jolo.
The MNLF has already accused the US military of spying on them, but local security officials denied the allegations and said the downed aircraft was used to survey for future civil military projects.
"There is nothing to fear about the US drone. It is being used to survey areas where humanitarian activities will be jointly undertaken by US and Philippine troops," Maj. Gamal Hayudini, a spokesman for the Southern Command, told the Zamboanga Journal.
Dozens of US troops are in Jolo and about 250 more are on their way to participate in the month-long joint military drill with Filipino soldiers dubbed as Balikatan (shoulder-to-shoulder) 2006.
Another US unmanned spy plane also crashed in November last year during a practice flight in Mount Tumatangis in Jolo. It was unknown if the drone was found or not, but the crash was never reported to the press.
In March 2002, a US spy drone called predator also crashed into the sea off Zamboanga City.
The remote-controlled spy plane crashed February 10 in the mountain enclave of Marang in Indanan town, a known lair of the Moro National Liberation Front, in Jolo island and was recently recovered by villagers.
It was not immediately known what caused the crash, but local television news showed footage of a villager holding the ill-fated drone, whose wing span is about one meter long and has a slim body and a video camera mounted on its belly.
The white drone appeared to be intact, but security sources in Jolo said villagers holding the aircraft hostage were demanding as much as P100,000 ($1,934) ransoms in exchange for the aircraft.
Sources did not say if the US or Philippine military are willing to pay the money to get back the drone, which may contain valuable information about the Abu Sayyaf or its hideouts on the island.
But one thing is sure; the recovery of the spy plane has put in jeopardy efforts by both countries to track down members of the Abu Sayyaf, blamed for the spate of bombings and killings in the Philippines. And it also exposed the clandestine use of unmanned US drones against the Abu Sayyaf, which is known only to top RP and US military officials.
Filipino military officials fear militant groups with links to the Abu Sayyaf and communist insurgents can take advantage of this and use the issue to force the US troops out of Jolo.
The MNLF has already accused the US military of spying on them, but local security officials denied the allegations and said the downed aircraft was used to survey for future civil military projects.
"There is nothing to fear about the US drone. It is being used to survey areas where humanitarian activities will be jointly undertaken by US and Philippine troops," Maj. Gamal Hayudini, a spokesman for the Southern Command, told the Zamboanga Journal.
Dozens of US troops are in Jolo and about 250 more are on their way to participate in the month-long joint military drill with Filipino soldiers dubbed as Balikatan (shoulder-to-shoulder) 2006.
Another US unmanned spy plane also crashed in November last year during a practice flight in Mount Tumatangis in Jolo. It was unknown if the drone was found or not, but the crash was never reported to the press.
In March 2002, a US spy drone called predator also crashed into the sea off Zamboanga City.
The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) went down for a still unknown reason, but the aircraft was one of several spy planes used to gather information about the location of the Abu Sayyaf terrorists, whom Washington and Manila linked to Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network.
The US military has a fleet of various unmanned spy planes, from a palm-size remote-controlled aircraft, to bigger and sophisticated high-altitude; long-range remotely piloted vehicles designed for long-endurance photographic reconnaissance and electronic surveillance missions, and as attack aircrafts.
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