BASILAN ISLAND, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / June 12, 2008) – Philippine Muslim rebels have captured two marine intelligence agents in Basilan island, where security forces are fighting Abu Sayyaf militants blamed for terrorism and kidnappings in the southern region.
Intelligence sources told the regional newspaper The Mindanao Examiner that the rebels wanted to swap the soldiers for a captured Abu Sayyaf militant, Sali Alih, who was implicated in the beheading of 14 marines in fierce clashes last year in Basilan’s Al-Barka town.
The hostages were negotiating for the surrender of a rebel leader of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), Hadji Mas’ud alias Commander Long, in Tipo-Tipo town when gunmen seized them, one intelligence source said.
The MILF confirmed the abduction, but it was unknown whether the abductors are connected with the rebel group which is currently negotiating peace with Manila.
It said the soldiers Corporals Jesse Duatin and Bernard Alcantara are being held captive by followers of Mas’ ud.
“We have to verify this report, whether the soldiers are really being held by the MILF forces in Basilan, but for sure the MILF has no links whatsoever with the Abu Sayyaf group,” Eid Kabalu, a rebel spokesman, said in an interview.
The Philippine military did not give any statement about the captive soldiers, but sources said there are negotiations to free the hostages.
Intelligence sources said the rebels threatened to execute the hostages if Alih is not freed from military custody. Alih belongs to the group of Abu Sayyaf leader Furuji Indama, blamed for the spate of attacks on military patrols in Basilan island.
Alih, a nephew of Mas’ ud, was traveling on a motorcycle with another companion when police and military forces captured him. His companion was briefly held, but freed later by the police for lack of evidence to link him to the Abu Sayyaf.
The Abu Sayyaf is a small, but the most dreaded among local Muslim rebel groups in the southern Philippines. Filipino authorities linked the Abu Sayyaf also known as Al-Harakatul al-Islamiya, which means "bear of the sword" to the al-Qaeda terror network and the Indonesian militant group Jemaah Islamiya.
Another faction of the Abu Sayyaf is holding a kidnapped television reporter Ces Drilon and her two cameramen, Jimmy Encarnacion and Angelo Valaderama, including their guide Professor Octavio Dinampo.
They were seized over the weekend in the village of Kulasi in Maimbung town while pursuing an exclusive story about the Abu Sayyaf.
Drilon works for the television giant ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. while Dinampo teaches Political Science at the Mindanao State University.
Police have tagged Gafur Jumdail and Albader Parad, a notorious militant leader wanted both by Washington and Manila for terrorism and killings, as behind the kidnappings. (Mindanao Examiner)
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