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| Southeast Asia |
| Jojo nabbed, 90 MILF hard boyz call it quits |
| 2004-09-09 |
| Philippine troops have captured a commander of the Abu Sayaf Muslim extremist group who the military previously claimed it killed in a clash last year, an official said yesterday. Marines arrested Javier Soriano, also known as Jojo Rasul, at his hideout on Monday in Jolo town in southern Sulu province, said Brigadier General Agustin Dema-ala, head of a regional anti-insurgency force. Soriano has been linked to a number of kidnappings by the Abu Sayyaf, a small but violent band loosely linked to al-Qaida and listed by Washington as a terrorist group. Authorities were offering a 150,000-peso (US$2,600) reward for his capture. Last year, the military said he was slain during a clash with soldiers in Sulu. Captured guerrillas and informants later revealed he survived and led the military to his hideout, Dema-ala said. Soriano, who was being interrogated, has allegedly worked under Ghalib Andang, a senior Abu Sayaf commander captured in December also in Sulu province, about 940 kilometers south of Manila. Authorities have charged Andang with organizing the 2000 kidnapping of 21 people, including 10 Western tourists, from Sipadan island resort in neighboring Malaysia. The hostages were later freed in exchange for large ransoms, reportedly financed by Libya. Andang has denied involvement. U.S.-backed offensives have whittled down the Abu Sayaf from a peak strength of more than 1,000 men in 2001 to about 300 today, the military says. Ninety guerrillas from the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front have surrendered to the army in the southern Philippines before peace negotiations, the military said yesterday. The rebels turned themselves in on Monday and handed over a cache of weapons to the 602nd Infantry Brigade in the town of Carmen in the main southern island of Mindanao, the military said in a statement. "The rebels are presently undergoing custodial debriefing," it said. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |