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Hostage due for beheading escapes
[GULFTODAY.AE] A 28-year-old Indonesian sailor who was reportedly due for beheading on the island province of Sulu in restive Mindanao escaped the Al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf...also known as al-Harakat al-Islamiyya, an Islamist terror group based in Jolo, Basilan and Zamboanga. Since its inception in the early 1990s, the group has carried out bombings, kidnappings, murders, head choppings, and extortion in their uniquely Islamic attempt to set up an independent Moslem province in the Philippines. Abu Sayyaf forces probably number less than 300 cadres. The group is closely allied with remnants of Indonesia's Jemaah Islamiya and has loose ties with MILF and MNLF who sometimes provide cannon fodder... Lions of Islam who held him hostage since his abduction and six other companions in June, the military reported on Wednesday. Major Filemon Tan, the front man of the military’s Western Mindanao Command, identified the escapee as Mohammad Safyan, one of seven Indonesian crewmen aboard a tugboat who were kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf off the Sulu Sea on June 23. Tan said Safyan was rescued by residents when he was caught in a fishnet off the coastal village of the town of Luuk, Sulu on Wednesday morning. Tan quoted Safyan was saying he decided to escape after the Lions of Islam reportedly informed him he was due for beheading, apparently for their alleged failure to pay their ransom demand. Tan added Safyan told military authorities he made a successful but wild dash for freedom in a mangrove swamp where he and the other hostages spent the night. The military said Safyan was one of seven Indonesian crewmen including their skipper aboard an Indonesian tugboat loaded with coal who were kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf off the Sulu Sea on June 23. At the same time, Tan announced that elite members of the Army Special Forces overrun and seized two camps maintained by the Abu Sayyaf in Sulu’s neighbouring island province of Basilan ...Basilan is a rugged, jungle-covered island in the southern Philippines. It is a known stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf, bandidos, and maybe even orcs. Most people with any sense travel with armed escorts... One of the camps seized is located in a mountain village in the town of Tipo-Tipo, Basilan which is well-fortified and equipped with bunkers, tunnels and foxholes, according to Tan. Posted by: Fred 2016-08-18 |
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