Notre Dame student abducted in Jolo

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Oct. 8, 2010) – Police mounted a search Friday for a Filipino student who was reported abducted in the southern town of Jolo, police told the Mindanao Examiner.

Police said it formed a group that would search for Kenneth Lao, 21, who is allegedly being held by a gang after being captured on Thursday outside the Notre Dame College in Jolo.

His family told police that a man phoned them later in the day to say that they are holding Lao captive. It was unknown whether the Abu Sayyaf, a notorious rebel group blamed for the spate terror attacks and kidnappings-for-ransom, has anything to do withy the abduction.

Police did not say if the man demanded ransom for Lao’s safe release.

“We are still investigating this case. We have formed a task force to handle this case,” said Senior Superintendent Joseph Ramac, the provincial police chief.

The mayor of Jolo, Hussin Amin, cannot be reached to give details about the abduction, but other reports said Lao was lured out of his school by a friend whom he was texting and then snatched by armed men. (Mindanao Examiner)

6 killed in clan war in Philippines

Relatives bury the victims of attack in Patikul town in Sulu province in the southern Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner Photo - Nickee Butlangan).

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Sept. 23, 2010) – Gunmen killed six people in an attack on a Muslim village in what police claimed was triggered by a long time clan war in the southern Filipino province of Sulu.

Police said it launched an operation on Thursday to track down the murderers in the town of Patikul. The attack late Wednesday also left two more people wounded.

“We are still investigating the attack, but initial reports pointed to rido or clan war as the motive of the killings,” said Senior Superintendent Joseph Ramac, chief of the Sulu police force.

He said more policemen were sent to the village to prevent the escalation of hostilities between the warring clans. "We have additional forces in the area," he told the Mindanao Examiner by phone from Sulu province.

Clan war is not uncommon in the southern Philippines, particularly among Muslim clans and the U.S. Agency for International Development and think-tank The Asia Foundation have said more than 3,000 people have been killed over the past seven decades in family feuds in the restive region.

Rido can involve disputes among family members or among two or more rival families, pitting neighbors or different ethnic groups against each other. The disputes center on issues of land, money, marriage or political power and involve revenge killings.

The violence increases with each act of retaliation, broadening to include those not directly involved in the dispute, including women and children, according to the Asia Foundation, adding, some feuds lasted for decades. (With a report from Nickee Butlangan)

Sayyaf commander killed in police clash in Southern Philippines

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Sept. 5, 2010) – Police commandos killed a sub-leader of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group in a clash early Sunday in the southern Philippine province of Sulu, officials said Sunday.

Officials said the fighting killed Gafur Jumdail in the remote village of Lapa in Maimbung town before dawn after commandos from the elite Special Action Force tracked down the terrorist and his group.

“Special Action Force commandos clashed with the Abu Sayyaf and killed Gafur Jumdail in the village of Lapa,” Senior Superintendent Joseph Ramac, the Sulu police chief, said by phone from his command post in the province.

Ramac said several more militants were believed wounded in the clash. He did not say whether there were casualties on the police side.

Jumdail is a brother of Abu Sayyaf leader Umbra Abu Jumdail alias Dr Abu, who was also linked to the June 8, 2008 kidnapping of television reporter Ces Drilon in Sulu.

Militants intercepted Drilon and her two cameramen Jimmy Encarnacion and Angelo Valderama, including their guide Professor Octavio Dinampo while pursuing an exclusive story about the Abu Sayyaf which authorities said has links also with the Indonesian militant group called Jemaah Islamiya.

Drilon works for the television giant ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation while Dinampo teaches Political Science at the Mindanao State University.

The Abu Sayyaf was also tagged as behind last year’s ambush of a police convoy, killing the provincial police commander, Senior Superintendent Julasirim Kasim and several others in the town of Maimbung. (Mindanao Examiner)

Philippine security forces pursue Sayyaf, JI terrorists

A police commander talks on his radio as they prepare to patrol Sulu province in the southern Philippines, where security forces are pursuing al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf militants blamed for the spate of attacks that had killed and injured civilians in the past. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)

SULU, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Mar. 3, 2010) – Security forces have stepped up its patrol in the southern province of Sulu as police and military continue operations against the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group, officials told the Mindanao Examiner on Wednesday.

Officials said the operations are aimed at capturing senior leaders of the militant group blamed for the spate of attacks in Sulu, one of five provinces under the Muslim autonomous region.

“We have increased our patrol to protect villagers from possible attacks by the Abu Sayyaf, especially now that many terrorist leaders had been killed in past and recent operations,” said Senior Superintendent Joseph Ramac, the provincial police chief.

Police last week captured a senior Abu Sayyaf member Mujibar Amon in Indanan town after villagers secretly tipped off authorities about his presence.

Amon is one the country’s most wanted terrorists who was involved in last year’s kidnappings of three Red Cross workers and many more, including the cross-border raid in Malaysia’s Sipadan island report where 21 mostly European and Asian holidaymakers were abducted and brought to Sulu in 2000.

He was tagged as among those who also kidnapped US tourist Jeffrey Shilling in 2000 in Sulu.

Authorities are also tracking down members of the Indonesian militant group Jemaah Islamiya who are believed hiding in Sulu and among them are Dulmatin, Umar Patek and Mauiya – all wanted for the Bali bombings in 2002 that killed over 200 people, mostly Australian holidaymakers.

Last month, an Abu Sayyaf commander Albader Parad, who was involved in the kidnappings of three Red Cross workers last year, was killed in a military raid in his hideout in Sulu’s Indanan town.

Senior Superintendent Bienvenido Latag, the regional police chief, said the killing of Parad and the capture of Amon was a big to the Abu Sayyaf. “This is another blow to the terrorist group and we will continue to pursue the terrorists no matter where,” Latag said.

Sulu Governor Sakur Tan said he is supporting the government offensive against the Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiya. “Sulu is a peaceful province. It is only these terrorists groups which are destroying our beautiful province. My people are fed up with their atrocities,” he said.

Tan put Sulu under a state of emergency last year after Abu Sayyaf militants kidnapped the aid workers. He also ordered security forces to dismantle all private armies of political warlords in the province.

Last year, police also recruited some 2,000 civilians to form part of the Police Auxiliary Unit to help authorities fight terrorism and guard villages against rebel attacks.

Police and military also linked the Abu Sayyaf to Tan’s failed assassination last year outside his office in Patikul town. Militants bombed Tan’s convoy on May 13 that wounded 10 people, including a local town mayor Hatta Berto.

Tan just came from his office and on his way home when a motorcycle bomb exploded near his vehicle. Police later captured two Abu Sayyaf bombers Juhan Alimuddin and Sulayman Muin who confessed to investigators that they were hired by Tan’s political foe to kill the governor. (Mindanao Examiner)