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Southeast Asia

40 Abu Sayyaf militants killed in ongoing offensive

2016-07-12

[Business World] The ongoing military operation against the Abu Sayyaf in Basilan and Sulu has left 40 militants killed and 25 injured. In Basilan, the continuing offensive which started last Wednesday led to the killing of 18 Abu Sayyaf militants and injuring of nine others. Among those killed in the confrontations in July 7 were Julkifli Sariul and Kussien Pallam Seong. Among those injured were Boy Indama, Abdul Karim, Hakim Jalul, Bong Assam, Albert Tuason and Gapul Melling. Heavy fighting is still being reported as of Monday with the military using to armored vehicles, artillery fire and close air support. In Sulu, Philippine troops have killed 22 Abu Sayyaf militants and injued 16 others. Military intelligence reports identified Abu Sayyaf militants Sabtola Mahalli, Mallah Sangkula, and Bas Sariyul. Sangkula and Mahalli, a follower of Abu Sayyaf Sub-Leader Basaron Arok, were killed in an clash with soldierslast July 6. Mahalli was wanted for involvement in the kidnapping of ABS-CBN reporter Ces Drilon and Nelso Lim of Mega Fishing. Sariyul was killed on July 7 in a clash in Patikul.

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Southeast Asia

Abu Sayyaf kidnapping spirals into chaos

2013-07-20

One of the men who kidnapped journalist Ces Drilon and her crew in 2008 is not only free but is back at it. According to surveillance photographs, the man using the alias "Damz,' one of Drilon's kidnappers, is part of the group that abducted the Bansil sisters from Jolo on June 22, 2013. They are unlikely victims for a group supposed to be fighting for Muslims. The Bansil sisters worked together to produce independent films showcasing Filipino Muslim life and culture. Their father, Abdulbassit Bansil, is a Muslim cleric - a close associate of the founding leaders of the Philippines' two largest armed Muslim movements - the Moro National Liberation Front and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. He married an Algerian-Moroccan, to whom the ransom demand was allegedly made. Drilon's kidnappers were led by the most senior leader of the Abu Sayyaf, Radullan Sahiron ...

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Southeast Asia

Drilon says Commander Brain Damage not her kidnapper

2008-07-25

ABS-CBN News senior correspondent Ces Drilon said Wednesday night that the suspect arrested by the military in Talipao, Sulu on Tuesday is not part of the group of Abu Sayyaf members who kidnapped her, two network cameramen and a peace advocate in the province last month. "The commander 'Brain Damage' is not the one we know who was part of the group that kidnapped us," Drilon said in a statement, adding that the military sent her a picture of the suspect via multi-media message on mobile phone. Police, meanwhile, said that Drilon and cameramen Jimmy Encarnacion and Angelo Valderama will still be asked to identify suspects caught by authorities in Sulu when they are turned over to officials in Manila. On Tuesday, a man named Munhamer Sattari, alias "Brain Damage," and is said to be a member of the Talipao town-based Abu Sayyaf Group under the late Commander Mujib Susukan, was apprehended by members of the Marine MBLT-4 in Barangay Kandang. Amilbahar Amilasan, presidential assistant on the peace process, said Sattari has a pending arrest warrant for four counts of frustrated murder. Amilasan said the suspect has been brought to the 3rd Marine Brigade headquarters. Col. Eugenio Clemen of the 3rd Brigade, however, was unable to confirm the report. He said he was in Zamboanga City Wednesday. On July 18, two other suspected kidnappers of Drilon, her crew and peace advocate Octavio Dinampo were arrested at a Marine checkpoint in Patikul town.

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Southeast Asia

Another suspect in Drilon kidnapping snagged

2008-07-25

Another suspect in the kidnapping of a television news crew was arrested by the military in Sulu, a military spokesman said Thursday. The suspect was identified as Abu Sayyaf member Munhamer Sattari alias Brain Damage, who was collared in Kandang village, Maimbung town, at 5:35 p.m. last Tuesday, said Lieutenant Colonel Edgard Arevalo of the Navy. No details are available as of posting time. Sattair is the third suspect to be captured in a week. Last Friday, authorities arrested two others, including a 14-year-old boy in Timpook village, Patikul town. On June 8, ABS-CBN news anchor Ces Drilon, her cameramen Jimmy Encarnacion and Angelo Valderama, and their guide, Mindanao State University (MSU) professor Octavio Dinampo, were seized in Sulu by suspected Abu Sayyaf bandits. Valderama was freed on June 12, while the rest was released on June 17. Police said ransom was paid.

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Southeast Asia

Suspect in Drilon kidnap says he's just an errand boy

2008-07-22

One of the arrested suspects in the June 8 kidnapping of broadcast journalist Ces Drilon and three others, including Mindanao State University Professor Octavio Dinampo, said he was only an errand boy of the group that abducted the news team and the professor in Sulu last June. The suspect, identified by authorities as 18-year old Nadzmir Amirul, said that when the kidnappers arrived at their place in the village of Timpook in Patikul, he and another companion were hired to watch over the victims. Aside from serving as guard, Amirul, also known as Abu Kudama, according to the military, cooked and fetched water for the kidnappers and the victims. He said when ransom was paid, he got P50,000 as payment for his services. When asked why the wallet of ABS-CBN cameraman Jimmy Encarnacion was recovered from him during his arrest on Friday, Amirul said it was given to him. Amirul said Encarnacion had asked him to look for his wallet, which was taken by the other abductors, so he could get back his identification cards. He said Encarnacion offered that he could keep the wallet after the cameraman got his ID cards. Amirul said the group of Abu Sayyaf Commander Amlon got about P18 million in ransom. He said the money was put in two bags and was divided among the members of the group. Amirul said he did not know exactly how much the others got as share. Asked about the participation of Indanan town Mayor Alvarez Isnaji in the kidnapping, Amirul said: "This is my first time to hear that name. I do not know him." Isnaji served as chief negotiator for the victim's release. But the mayor and his son Haider were later arrested for allegedly being behind the kidnapping. Dinampo, in an earlier interview, said he was sure the men who held them were members of the Abu Sayyaf group led by Radulan Sahiron. Amirul said he and some of his companions were considered part of the outer group of the Abu Sayyaf, and not that of the inner group led by Radulan Sahiron. "We are the bad guys," he said in the vernacular. Col. Eugene Clemen, commander of the 3rd Marine Brigade, described Amirul as "very cooperative and is telling the truth." "I am convinced by what he says. Honestly, I myself believe that what he is saying is true," Clemen said. But Rear Admiral Emilio Marayag Jr., commander of the Naval Forces South, said the Abu Kudama he knew had long been arrested. "Abu Kudama is in Manila to face charges in court, apart from this, I have nothing more. Military Intelligence Group 9 arrested him last year," he said referring to Teteng Mandangan. "As far as I know, there is (only) one Abu Kudama, unless there's another one." Mandangan was arrested by Marine soldiers in Bongao, Tawi-tawi, on Nov. 21, 2007, and was among those allegedly involved in the Dos Palmas kidnapping. "As far as I know, there is (only) one Abu Kudama, unless there's another one," Marayag said. Major General Benjamin Dolorfino, Marine commandant, said they were positive about Kudama's identity because he was one of those caught in a video secretly taken by the ABS-CBN team. "His arrest will provide a lot of information that would lead to the solution of the case and give justice to the victims," Dolorfino said.

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Southeast Asia

2 Sayyaf Kidnappers Nabbed In Southern Philippines

2008-07-22

Two Abu Sayyaf members linked to the kidnapping of a Philippine television presenter and three others had been arrested in the southern province of Sulu, police said. Police said the duo was intercepted at a government checkpoint near a marine base in the village of Buhanginan in Patikul town on Saturday. The two, both teenagers, were positively identified by the authorities as involved in the June 8 kidnapping of Ces Drilon and her cameramen Jimmy Encarnacion and Angelo Valderama, including their guide Prof. Octavio Dinampo. The four were freed weeks later after private negotiators paid P20 million ransom. One of the two suspects was identified as Nadzmir Amirul. They were on a motorcycle when stopped at the checkpoint.

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Southeast Asia

Mayor's son pushed for Ces Drilon kidnap, says guide

2008-07-03

The son of the mayor of Indanan, Sulu, encouraged the kidnapping of an ABS-CBN news team and said it would prove profitable, according to the team's guide who has turned state witness. Juamil 'Maming' Biyaw made the claim in a statement he submitted to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) at Camp Crame national police headquarters, a copy of which was obtained by the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net). 'Go ahead with that plan because it's a good plan and we can make money from it,' Biyaw quoted Haider 'Jun' Isnaji, son of Mayor Alvarez Isnaji, as saying. Biyaw also confirmed that the ABS-CBN team--composed of reporter Ces Drilon and cameramen Jimmy Encarnacion and Angelo Valderama--had traveled to Sulu province to interview Abu Sayyaf leader Radulan Sahiron. Drilon and her crew, along with Mindanao State University Prof. Octavio Dinampo, were kidnapped in Indanan on June 8 by armed men believed to be members of the Abu Sayyaf. Valderama was released on June 12 and the rest on June 17, purportedly after payment of ransom. The Isnajis served as negotiators along with Sulu Vice Gov. Lady Anne Sahidulla. The CIDG has filed kidnapping-for-ransom charges against the Isnajis. Father and son, now detained in Camp Crame, have denied the charges. Reached for comment Tuesday on the phone, Drilon said: 'Biyaw should be charged. If he knew that a crime was going to be committed, he could have warned us. But he did nothing.' Philippine National Police Director General Avelino Razon told reporters on Monday that Biyaw would serve as state witness in the case against the Isnajis. On the phone with the Inquirer in Zamboanga City, Professor Dinampo was incredulous. 'How could Biyaw become a state witness when he was among those behind our kidnapping?' Dinampo said. 'If the authorities will take him in as state witness, there is something wrong with our judicial system.' The Isnajis' lawyer also expressed surprise at Biyaw's statement. 'We are surprised,' Jose Aspiras told the Inquirer on the phone. 'The mayor cannot recall having met Biyaw until Tuesday (Monday).' Aspiras also said Biyaw had made a first statement. 'We think there are discrepancies [between the first and second statements]. We are studying all the issues for our counteraffidavit,' the lawyer said.

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Southeast Asia

Marines nab Abu bandit in Sulu

2008-06-27

The Philippine Marines on Thursday arrested a bandit suspected of being part of a group that kidnapped an ABS-CBN news team and a Mindanao peace advocate in Sulu early this month. Col. Eugenio Clemen, commander of the 3rd Marine Brigade, identified the suspect as Jul Akram Hadjail. He was apprehended in Jolo town. Clemen said Hadjail is a member of the Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf bandit group and carries a P150,000-bounty on his head. He said the bandit is facing multiple murder and frustrated murder cases. The arrested Abu Sayyaf members is suspected of playing a role in the kidnapping of ABS-CBN senior correspondent Ces Drilon and her cameramen Jimmy Encarnacion and Angelo Valderama, Clemen said. The news crew was with Professor Octavio Dinampo of the Mindanao State University when abducted by Abu Sayyaf bandits in Indanan town on June 8. Valderama was released four days after the abduction. Drilon and the others were released on June 17. Meanwhile, Maj. Gen. Juancho Sabban, commander of the military's Joint Task Force Comet, on Wednesday announced the discovery of three bodies of suspected Abu Sayyaf bandits. The bodies were found in a forested village of Patikul town, where military forces are tracking down the kidnappers of the news team. Sabban said the bandits in Patikul might be the ones who kidnapped the news team.

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Southeast Asia

Mayor kept most of ransom: police

2008-06-21

The family of a television reporter who was abducted by alleged members of the Abu Sayyaf paid P5 million to her captors although only P2 million reached them, police and justice officials disclosed yesterday. In separate press conferences, Philippine National Police Chief Avelino Razon and Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said that the family of ABS-CBN’s Ces Drilon gave the ransom to Indanan Mayor Alvarez Isnaji, who was negotiating for her release, along with her crew and a professor, after they were abducted last June 8 in Sulu. The kidnappers initially demanded a P15-million ransom. “The initial payment was P5 million, however only P2 million was given to the kidnap for ransom group and the P3 million was kept by Mayor Isnaji,” said Razon. The PNP Chief also showed media pictures of the money being counted in Isnaji’s house in Indanan. Together in the picture were Alvarez, his son Haider, Sulu Vice Gov. Lady Ann Sahidulah and Superintendent Winnie Quidato. Citing accounts by witnesses whom he did not name, Gonzalez affirmed Razon’s statement that Isnaji allegedly pocketed P3 million and gave the balance to the abductors. But Gonzalez also disclosed that aside from the P5 million that was given by Drilon’s family, another P15 million was paid to the kidnappers. He said the money, which was inside a duffel bag, was delivered to the Orchid Hotel in Zamboanga via Negros Air Express Company, owned by the Lopezes of ABS-CBN. Gonzalez said this was revealed to him by Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno. Razon confirmed that there was another demand for P15 million but said that whether this was met would be the subject of further investigation. Razon said that based on intelligence information gathered, the leader of the kidnap gang was identified as “Larin-Larin,” an alleged alias of Isnaji. Gonzalez confirmed this, saying it was former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Nur Misuari who identified “Larin-Larin” as Mayor Isnaji, being a member of the Moro National Liberation Front’s central committee that signed the peace agreement in 1996. Gonzalez said during the debriefing of the victims, they claimed that they heard their abductors mention “Larin-Larin.” In the south, a military commander said troops are prowling the forests of Sulu in search of the abductors of the news team and their guide. “We are using small units which can move at night and target selective areas. These specialized operations are more effective in running after the bandits,” Maj. Gen. Juancho Sabban, chief of the Jolo-based counter-terrorism unit Task Force Comet, said. Lt. Gen. Nelson Allaga, Western Mindanao Command chief, said the offensive was launched on Thursday after President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo issued the marching orders. But Allaga clarified that they have always been pursuing the Abu Sayyaf even before the kidnapping. Aid workers yesterday said they expect an exodus of civilians from different villages in Sulu after security forces unleashed a barrage of howitzer rounds on suspected Abu Sayyaf targets late Thursday. Also yesterday, Sulu Gov. Abdusakur Tan said the kidnapping crisis severely affected the province and demanded that ABS-CBN publicly apologize to the people for allegedly besmirching Sulu’s image because of the incident.

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Southeast Asia

Indon gov't report: MILF, Abu Sayyaf harbored Bali bombers

2008-06-21

Two Muslim rebel groups operating in the country, including one engaged in peace talks with the government, have provided sanctuary and helped Indonesian terror suspects sought by the United States elude arrest for years, according to an interrogation report of a captured Indonesian militant. Are these the tolerant Muslims at the religious conference? Among several Indonesians hiding in the South are Umar Patek and Dulmatin, suspects in the deadly 2002 Bali nightclub bombings who have trained local insurgents in bomb making, according to the Indonesian government report. Mohammad Khildan Baihaqi, a suspected member of the Indonesia-based militant group Jemaah Islamiyah who was captured by troops in Davao Oriental province in February, told Indonesian authorities that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Abu Sayyaf helped him and other Indonesians gain sanctuary and protection in the South, the report said. Baihaqi’s disclosures show that Indonesian militants and Filipino insurgents continue to maintain active ties in Mindanao, organizing terror training and plotting new attacks. The Armed Forces of the Philippines has said that about 40 Indonesian Islamic radicals have been on the run from US-backed offensives, looking for a way to escape back home. Indonesian authorities were allowed to interrogate Baihaqi, who is in Army custody in Manila. “The Indonesian mujahedeen or voluntary fighters in Mindanao were under the protection of the MILF and the ASG (Abu Sayyaf group),” the report quoted Baihaqi as saying. Mindanao, home to the Muslim minority, has seen decades of bloody Islamic separatist rebellions by several groups. The Abu Sayyaf, blacklisted by Washington as a terrorist group for conducting bombings, kidnappings and beheadings, was implicated in the recent kidnapping of recently freed popular TV news anchor Ces Drilon and her two-man crew. The MILF and Abu Sayyaf had separately collaborated with Indonesian Islamic radicals in plotting new attacks, said Baihaqi, who the report said was involved in a plan to bomb a Roman Catholic cathedral in Mindanao when captured. Baihaqi said he was given sanctuary by the Abu Sayyaf in their mountain strongholds on Jolo island in January-September 2006 and then lived with MILF guerrillas in Davao del Norte, near where he was arrested. The MILF, a large rebel group involved in on-and-off peace negotiations with the government, has denied any links with foreign terror groups. It forged an agreement with the government in 2005 to help local troops capture criminals, including al-Qaida-linked militants. Rebel spokesperson Eid Kabalu said yesterday that Baihaqi might have been given sanctuary by MILF members who have broken away and allied themselves with foreign Islamic militants. "Wudn't us."

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Southeast Asia

Release of kidnapped Philippine TV star sought after one freed

2008-06-13

Negotiators were working on Friday to secure the release of a prominent television reporter and two colleagues kidnapped in the southern Philippines, after one hostage was freed. Angelo Valderama, a cameraman for the country's biggest television network ABS-CBN, was released by his captors on Thursday night. Efforts to free well-known female presenter Ces Drilon, her cameraman and a university professor who was accompanying them intensified on Friday. Y'know, I think I've seen that movie... The Manila Standard Today newspaper, quoting an unnamed security official, said Drilon had spoken with ABS-CBN bosses and told them her captors were demanding 10 million peso (225,000 dollars) in ransom money. Drilon, a glamorous television journalist who has covered unrest in the southern Philippines for several years, was seized with her colleagues shortly after arriving in Jolo on Sunday. Authorities say they are being held by the Abu Sayyaf, a Muslim extremist group linked by intelligence agencies to the Al-Qaeda terror network. Presidential aide Amilbahar Amilhasan said he believed a ransom of two million pesos had been paid for the release of Valderama despite government policy not to pay ransoms. Isnaji Alvarez, the mayor of Indanan town and one of the negotiators who helped free Valderama, told local radio that the cameraman was released as a "goodwill gesture" by the kidnappers. Alvarez said that "board and lodging" was paid for Valderama -- a more acceptable term for negotiators than saying it was ransom. Alvarez said he was confident the others could be released within days.

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