The separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) yesterday said its fighters would attack Pentagon gang hideouts if the group doesn’t free its hostages. MILF chairman Ibrahim Murad, reading a statement on DXMS radio, said the rebels are angered by kidnappings by the Pentagon gang — which is on a US list of terrorist organizations — because the military routinely blames the MILF for the abductions. Murad issued the warning three days after still unidentified gunmen kidnapped three telecommunications workers in the southern province of Lanao del Sur.
Police yesterday said the still unidentified gunmen have demanded a ten-million-peso ($178,570) ransom for the three hostages. Regional police chief Senior Supt. Isnaji Bantala said one of the kidnappers, suspected to be a member of the Pentagon kidnap gang, telephoned the families of the workers — two men and a woman — on Thursday, a day after their abduction. The workers were seized in a remote area near Tubaran town as they were inspecting a site for a cellular telephone transmission tower, Bantala said. The police earlier reported that the three were employees of Globe Telecom, one of the country’s largest mobile phone operators, but Bantala said they worked for a subcontractor of the company. The Pentagon gang is known to be holding a nephew of a hardware store owner and a businessman seized separately in December and February. |