Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia Agree To Act vs Abu Sayyaf
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia agreed Monday to take possible coordinated actions, including sea and air patrols, to stop an 
alarming wave of cross-border kidnappings and boat attacks by Abu Sayyaf extremists and other outlaws.
Philippine Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said no accord was signed during talks with his Malaysian and Indonesian counterparts in Manila 
because he wanted the administration of President-elect Rodrigo Duterte, to formalize any such border security arrangement.
because he wanted the administration of President-elect Rodrigo Duterte, to formalize any such border security arrangement.
Gazmin's designated successor, retired army Maj. Gen. Delfin Lorenzana, joined the meeting at his invitation.
- It follows an initial meeting by the three foreign ministers last month that was hosted by Indonesia and underscored the alarm over the Abu Sayyaf's continuing attacks despite repeated assurances of tighter security by Malaysia and the Philippines.
- "The ministers raised concern over the recent incidents of kidnappings and armed robbery at sea in the maritime areas of common concern," the defense chiefs, who included Hishammuddin Hussein of Malaysia and Ryamizard Ryacudu of Indonesia, said in a joint statement.
- They reaffirmed the need and collective responsibility of the countries to address such threats, it said.
- After staging ransom kidnappings of Malaysian and foreign tourists in Malaysia's Sabah state in recent years, Abu Sayyaf gunmen and allied militants successively attacked three tugboats starting in March, kidnapping a total of 18 Indonesian and Malaysian crewmen.
- The captives were freed in batches from the militants' jungle bases in the southern Philippine province of Sulu reportedly in exchange for huge ransoms. The militants have separately beheaded two Canadian hostages, who were seized from a southern Philippine marina, after a ransom deadline lapsed, sparking condemnations from Canada and a major Philippine military offensive.
- Gazmin told The Associated Press by telephone that the proposed actions include setting up a database on extremists and establishing joint military command posts in designated areas.
- Coordinated security actions are delicate because the Philippines has a territorial claim to Malaysia's easternmost state of Sabah on Borneo Island. The proposals would be studied before being formalized in an agreement that may be signed within the year, he said.
A template for their coordination will be the anti-piracy actions by Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand that have reduced the high number of piracy attacks in the Malacca Straits to zero so far this year, Gazmin said. 
"The aim is to send a warning or information to the other side which may face an imminent attack or to us when kidnap victims are about to be brought in," he said.
The Abu Sayyaf has carried out deadly bombings, kidnappings for ransom, beheadings, piracy and extortion, and is considered a terrorist organization by the 
Philippines and the United Nations.
Philippines and the United Nations.
The militants still hold at least five hostages, including a Norwegian resort manager and a Filipino woman kidnapped with the beheaded Canadians in September last year and a Dutch bird watcher, who was abducted more than three years ago.
Source: AP
4 Indonesians kidnapped By Pirates, Vessels Hijacked
JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesia says four of its nationals have been kidnapped and another shot in the hijacking of a tugboat and barge in the waters near the border with Malaysia and the Philippines.
The Indonesian Foreign Ministry says in a statement Saturday that the gunshot victim and five other crew members escaped the hijackers and are now in Malaysia.
The ministry says the incident happened early on Friday evening.
It comes after the kidnapping in March of the 10-member crew of an Indonesian tugboat and barge in the often insecure border region between the southern Philippines and Indonesia.
In that case, the owner of the hijacked tug boat received telephone calls, purportedly from the militant group Abu Sayyaf, demanding a ransom.
Authorities believe the 10 Indonesians are held captive in the Philippines.
Authorities believe the 10 Indonesians are held captive in the Philippines.
Source: AP
CLINTON SUPPORTS PHILIPPINE AGAINST AL-QAIDA LINKED MILITANTS
MANILA, Philippines – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday vowed support for the Philippine fight against al-Qaida-linked militants and highlighted the U.S. military's role in helping the country recover from deadly typhoons.
Source: AP
- Clinton arrived on a two-day visit after devastating back-to-back storms last month killed nearly 1,000 people in the worst floods and landslides to hit the capital, Manila, and the country's north in more than 40 years.
- Hundreds of U.S. troops on counterterrorism exercises quickly responded with heavy equipment, ships and helicopters, cleaning streets clogged with debris and ferrying food to isolated villages.
- "We were very pleased that we can respond quickly with our military assets," Clinton told reporters. "Filipino and American doctors worked side by side to help thousands of flood victims. We saw our military forces working together to airlift thousands of tons of food, equipment and other vital cargo."
- During a visit to a three-story high school that was heavily damaged during floods in Manila's Marikina city, Clinton announced an additional $5 million in U.S. aid. She spoke in front of hundreds of screaming students, some waving small U.S. and Philippine flags.
- "We were severely devastated. I hope they will look at how much damage was caused," said Kim Osorio, a senior at Malanday National High School.
- She said a U.S.-Philippine military pact that allows the deployment of U.S. troops is an "important expression of our partnership based on mutual respect and mutual interest."
- U.S. troops will continue to provide assistance in the Philippines, Clinton said, pointing to the Visiting Forces Agreement, a cornerstone of military alliance that has been criticized by Philippine left-wing and nationalist forces.
- The Philippine Senate recently passed a nonbinding resolution calling on the government to renegotiate the agreement that allows about 600 U.S. troops to train and advise Filipino soldiers battling the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf in the country's south.
- Despite years of U.S. military training and assistance, Filipino troops have struggled to contain the militants, who have recently intensified attacks, blowing up bridges, firing mortar shells and setting off roadside bombs.
- "I would just reiterate that the United States stands ready to assist our friends in the Philippines who are seeking to counter terrorism and the threat of extremism and we will be willing to support them in any way that is appropriate that they request," Clinton said.
- The 400-strong Abu Sayyaf has been suspected of getting funds and training from al-Qaida and has been blamed for deadly bombings, beheadings and kidnappings that have victimized Americans and Filipinos. It is also suspected of sheltering militants from the larger Southeast Asian terror group Jemaah Islamiyah, and the U.S. government has offered millions of dollars in rewards for the capture of its leaders.
PHILIPPINE POLICE ARREST SUSPECTED MUSLIM MILITANT
MANILA, Philippines: Police have captured a suspected al-Qaida-linked militant accused of high-profile kidnappings of at least four Americans and dozens of Filipinos in the southern Philippines, officials said Tuesday.
Source; The Star Online
- Last week's arrest of Hajer Sailani, an alleged member of the Abu Sayyaf, in a shopping mall in southern Cotabato city was the latest success of a crackdown that has netted several militants in the country's south and foiled kidnapping and terror plots, police said.
- Sailani has been linked to the 2000 kidnapping of American Jeffrey Schilling, a Muslim convert who traveled to an Abu Sayyaf jungle stronghold on southern Jolo Island but was held by the militants on suspicion that he was working for the CIA, police spokesman Leonardo Espina said.
- Schilling escaped eight months later. Sailani also was allegedly involved in the 2001 kidnapping of three Americans and 17 Filipino tourists at the Dos Palmas resort in southwestern Palawan province, which prompted Washington to deploy U.S. troops to the southern Mindanao region to help the Philippine military rescue them, Espina said.
- American missionary Gracia Burnham survived the yearlong jungle captivity, but husband Martin was killed in the military rescue in 2002. The third American, Guillermo Sobero, was beheaded by the militants on Basilan Island.
- Espina said Sailani also played a role in the kidnappings of dozens of teachers, priests and students in two Basilan schools in 2000. Most of the hostages were freed or escaped, but at least two teachers were beheaded.
- The national police "will not rest until all terrorists and criminals are arrested, accounted for and neutralized," Espina said.
- Among those arrested recently was Dinno-Amor Rosalejos Pareja, alleged head of the Rajah Solaiman Movement that officials say was behind the 2004 Manila ferry bombing that killed 116 people in the country's worst terror attack.
- The Abu Sayyaf, which has more than 300 fighters, is on the U.S. list of terrorist organizations. It is suspected of receiving funds and training from al-Qaida.
- Although the government has claimed to have crippled the Abu Sayyaf after several U.S.-backed offensives, the group still poses a major threat. It held three Red Cross workers and several others hostage earlier this year, engaged government troops in fierce fighting and planted bombs, including Sunday's blast that wounded two soldiers outside an airport and an air force base on Jolo, about 590 miles (950 kilometers) south of the capital, Manila.
45 KILLED IN MAJOR BATTLE IN SOUTHERN PHILIPPINE
A major battle between Philippine troops and Muslim guerrillas on a remote southern island has killed at least 45 people, a senior military commander said today.
Source: Reuters
- At least 22 rebels and 23 soldiers were killed in a military assault yesterday on a base of Abu Sayyaf rebels in the interior of the southern island of Basilan, Brigadier-General Rustico Guerrero told reporters.
- “We launched a decisive law enforcement operation targeting the Abu Sayyaf’s main training base on Basilan, but we were met by heavy resistance,” Guerrero said.
- Other officials said the battle died down after eight hours, as the guerrillas fled into the heavily wooded interior of the island.
- Rear Admiral Alexander Pama, a commander on Basilan, said an estimated 40 rebels were killed, but only 22 bodies had been recovered at the scene of the conflict.
- It was close quarter combat, the two sides almost came into hand-to-hand battle, Pama told Reuters, adding the proximity meant the military could not call in air strikes.
- The Abu Sayyaf, the smallest but the most deadly of several Muslim groups fighting for independence from Manila in the south of the Roman Catholic state, is estimated to have about 350 hard-core followers based mostly on Basilan and the nearby island of Jolo.
- It has links with Jemaah Islamiah, a pan-Asian radical Muslim group blamed for attacks in Indonesia, including the 2002 Bali bombings and the bomb attacks on two hotels in Jakarta last month.
- Abu Sayyaf is blamed for the worst militant attack in the Philippines, the sinking of a ferry in Manila Bay in 2004 in which 100 people were killed.
- It has also been in the spotlight for high-profile kidnappings, most recently of three Red Cross officials on Jolo who were later freed. Newspapers said large ransoms were paid, although officials have denied any payments.
ABU SAYYAF TO FREE ONE HOSTAGE
Fighters holding three Red Cross workers hostage in the southern Philippines have agreed to release one of their captives in return for the military pulling back its forces, officials have said.The army said on Thursday it had agreed to the move in exchange for a pledge from a commander of the Abu Sayyaf group to free one of the aid workers it kidnapped more than two months ago.
"We will reposition our troops as necessary to allow the exhaustion of other peaceful means for the safe release of the victims," Ernesto Torres, a military spokesman, said in a statement.He said the safety of the aid workers, who have been held hostage on the southern island of Jolo, "remains the paramount concern".
The aid workers -
Swiss national Andreas Notter, Eugenio Vagni, from Italy, and Mary Jean Lacaba, a Filipino national - were kidnapped on January 15 and are believed to be held hostage by the Abu Sayyaf, a separatist group that intelligence agencies say has ties to al-Qaeda.Al Jazeera's Marga Ortigas reporting from the southern Philippines said a release is expected soon.
"There has been no confirmation of an exact date or time, but our sources have told us that according to those holding the aid workers, a release is imminent," she added.
Courtesy: Al Jazeera
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