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| Southeast Asia |
| Abu Sayyaf, MNLF planning to kidnap VIPs |
| 2005-02-17 |
| APART from attacking military detachments in Sulu, loyalists of jailed Muslim leader Nur Misuari and the Abu Sayyaf planned to kidnap top government officials and foreigners to force his release from jail, a military official said on Wednesday. Following a series of meetings late last year, the two Muslim rebel groups agreed to take "extreme measures," like "kidnapping high-profile government officials or foreigners to be used as leverage for the release of Misuari," said the official who requested anonymity. The former leader of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) is detained at a police camp in the municipality of Sta. Rosa in Laguna province while on trial for rebellion. At least three teams, led by MNLF commanders Bashiri Jailani and Tahir Sali, and Abu Sayyaf leader Radullan Sahiron will carry out the abductions, the same source said. In another meeting last November 16, Jailani, Sali, and Sahiron met in barangay (village) Pandan, Kalingalan Kaluang town, Sulu province also allegedly planned a siege on three schools in Zamboanga City, the official said. Military spokesmen were unavailable for comment. Fighting between government troops and Misuari loyalists had raged in Sulu since early last week, killing at least 70 on both sides. On Wednesday, the government seized the Misuari loyalists' Camp Ujod Jabal in barangay (village) Bitan-ag, Panamo town, which they renamed Camp Dennis Villanueva, in honor of an Army battalion commander, who died there last Thursday. In a related the development, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) warned that the current military offensive in Mindanao was "doomed to fail" like the "all-out war" that the Estrada government launched in 2000. "It is more prudent for this government to agree to a ceasefire now than later when its military solution will prove to be futile and disastrous," MILF chief information officer Mohaguer Iqbal said in a statement. "That is more insulting and face-shattering." |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |