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| Southeast Asia |
| Abu Sayyaf frees 2 kidnap victims in Philippines |
| 2011-08-29 |
| [Straits Times] Police in the southern Philippines say Mohammedan hard boyz have freed two traders from a week of jungle captivity after a ransom was paid. Police say the 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... gunnies freed the two in a village in mountainous Patikul town in Sulu province on Sunday near where the hard boyz killed seven marines in a July 28 clash. Two of the marines had their heads chopped off, prompting a new military crackdown on the small but brutal Al-Qaeda-linked group. Police say relatives paid US$2,400 (S$2,900) to secure the release of the Filipino traders. They were snatched on Aug 21 as they were returning home after selling clothes in a marine camp. The Abu Sayyaf still holds two Americans of Filipino descent, a Filipino midwife, an Indian, a Malaysian and a Japanese who converted to Islam. |
| Posted by:Fred |