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Southeast Asia
20 rebels die in Philippine clash
2009-05-12
More than 20 Muslim rebels have been killed in fierce fighting in the southern Philippines in retaliatory attacks following the gunning down of a local police chief, police said Monday.

The fighting in the southern island of Jolo broke out after Abu Sayyaf members ambushed Chief Superintendent Julasirim Kasim, killing him and four of his men last Thursday. Five rebels were also killed in the attack. Since then, residents in the area have reported seeing numerous Abu Sayyaf bodies left behind after clashes with government forces, local police official Director Felizardo Serapio said.

"The civilians in the area sighted 20 more Abu Sayyaf killed aside from the five terrorists killed earlier in the encounter," he said. Serapio said that the Italian Red Cross hostage being held by the rebels, Eugenio Vagni, was reportedly sighted on the outskirts of Indanan town in Jolo but police are still trying to confirm this. Vagni and two other members of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Swiss Andreas Notter and Filipina Mary Jean Lacaba, were abducted while on a humanitarian mission to Jolo January 15.

Notter and Lacaba were recovered separately by security forces that included Kasim's men in April, but Vagni remains in the hands of the Abu Sayyaf who are known for kidnapping foreigners and Christians and holding them for ransom.
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Southeast Asia
Six abducted by Abu Sayyaf in Philippines
2008-04-10
Philippine police have mounted a search for six people abducted by Al-Qaeda-linked Muslim militants from a minibus in the south of the country, police said Wednesday. The six, all local Muslim residents, were passengers on the bus in Maimbung town on the island of Jolo when the militants seized them on Monday, said provincial police chief, Superintendent Julasirim Kasim. "We still don't know the motive for the kidnapping. It could be a personal grudge or anything," Kasim said.

Last week, Abu Sayyaf gunmen seized a Muslim schoolteacher, then released her a few hours later. Kasim said the same group is responsible for the latest abduction. It is believed that the schoolteacher's family negotiated her release. Earlier this month, the US embassy warned that extremists could be plotting to kidnap Americans and other foreigners in the south.
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Science & Technology
7 abducted by suspected Abu militants in S Philippines
2008-04-09
(Xinhua) -- Suspected Abu Sayyaf rebels hijacked a jeep transporting fuel and seized all its driver and six passengers at a village in Maimbung town in the Philippines' southern province of Sulu, police said on Tuesday. Police said the kidnapping occurred in the village of Kulasi where Abu Sayyaf militants had kidnapped a Muslim teacher last week, Philippine cable news network GMA reported.

"There is an ongoing investigation and police reports said the people were seized in Kulasi village by suspected Abu Sayyaf bandits headed by Gafur Jumdail," said Julasirim Kasim, police chief of the province. He said the victims, all local Muslims, were on a jeep transporting six drums of gasoline when gunmen flagged down their jeep. "We still don't know the motive of the kidnapping. It could be grudge or anything," Kasim said.

Last week, suspected Abu Sayyaf rebels abducted and subsequently freed Lullong Marrack, a 60-year-old Muslim teacher, in Kulasi village. He was unharmed in the incident. It was not known whether or not Marrack's family paid ransom in exchange for his freedom, although there were reports that the family negotiated with the bandits.

Kasim said it is likely that the gang behind Marrack's abduction was the same one behind the kidnapping of the seven people.

Maimbung is a known lair of the Abu Sayyaf, a loosely organized group with some 380 members reportedly linked to Osama bin Laden'sal-Qaeda terrorist network and responsible for a series of kidnappings. The group is currently holding trader Rosalie Lao, who was kidnapped in January.
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