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| Southeast Asia |
| Philippine military suspects kidnappers from Sulu |
| 2015-09-26 |
| [Inquirer] The Philippine military is looking into reports that the gunmen who kidnapped three Westerners and a Filipino woman on Monday night are from Sulu province. Around 800 policemen and elite troops, backed by the navy and the coast guard, are advancing their search for the gunmen, who may have taken their victims to Sulu. Eastern Mindanao Command chief Lt. Gen. Aurelio Baladad said, "It might be possible that the primary suspect is the Abu Sayyaf group but I would not immediately conclude that it is they … It’s possible that it’s a group not the Abu Sayyaf but wanting to make money." He did not provide details of ongoing rescue operations for Canadians John Ridsdel and Robert Hall, Norwegian Kjartan Sekkingstad and Filipino Maritess Flor, whom the gunmen snatched from a resort on Samal Island on Monday night. The leader of the kidnappers could be Abu Sayyaf subcommander Hatib Hajan Sawadjaan, according to sources from the military intelligence service. The sources said Sawadjaan commands a group of militants who are orphans of slain commanders and fighters of the terrorist group. Another source said the Patikul group of the Abu Sayyaf worked with the Sibuco group of the terrorist organization, which cased the resort on Samal Island. The source said, "Last month, people arrived in Davao and went to Samal, posing as fishermen." The source said those people were from Sibugay and their leader was known as Commander Waning, who operated in Zamboanga and Davao. Superintendent Antonio Rivera, from the Southern Mindanao Police Office, said an Army battalion and a company of rangers were pursuing the abductors in the mountains of Davao Oriental province. He said that the authorities still had no definite information about the identities of the kidnappers. As of Thursday, Rivera said, the police and the military were still looking into the possibility that the kidnappers were either the New People's Army, or the Abu Sayyaf, or a militant group called the Bangsamoro Army. The Bangsamoro Army is a splinter group of the Moro National Liberation Front. One military officer, who asked not to be identified for lack of authority to speak about the matter, said operations were focused on Davao del Sur and Sarangani provinces. He said, "It's not in Davao Oriental or Compostela Valley." |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #2 George T. Sends forth to battle his lusty minions. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2015-09-26 06:19 |
| #1 Oh my. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2015-09-26 01:18 |