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Abu Sayyaf Strikes Again Without Warning
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| Phillipines troops prepare to attack Abu Sayyaf hideouts |
By
IOL South East Asia Correspondent
MANILA,
Aug 23 (IslamOnline) - To the total surprise of the local military in
Mindanao, the Abu Sayyaf group, supposed to have been severely
neutralized, has stricken again without warning, news reports from
Manila said on Friday.
Barely
three weeks after U.S. troops left, the dreaded Abu Sayyaf struck
again, seizing six Christian preachers and beheading two of them in
Sulu. The military responded by heavily bombing the areas held by the
Abu Sayyaf, Abs-Cbnnews said on Friday evening.
The
successful kidnapping of the priests and the beheading of two of them
is a serious setback to the Gloria Macapagal Arroyo regime, sources
said in Mindanao.
The
Philippine government has embarked on a ‘no crime, no kidnap’
Philippines after it thought the Abu Sayyaf was severely gutted by the
military, assisted by the U.S. troops in Mindanao.
Military
reports Thursday said the six priests, who belonged to the Jehovah's
Witness, were selling cosmetics and pharmaceutical products when
abducted on Wednesday by Abu Sayyaf gunmen.
Two of the hostages, both males, were immediately beheaded "for
not believing in Allah," reports quoted Sulu army commander Brig
Gen Romeo Tolentino as saying.
The first head was later dumped near the army headquarters in Jolo,
Sulu's provincial capital, while the second was found near the public
market. Their bodies have yet to be found, Bernama in Malaysia
reported.
It was "jihad", according to a letter reportedly left by the
Abu Sayyaf on one of the victims, Tolentino said to newsmen in
Mindanao.
"A letter was found from one of the heads warning that those who
do not believe in Allah will suffer the same fate. They said what they
did was jihad," the army official said.
The military doubted that Islam was the motive behind the latest caper
of the Abu Sayyaf, a notorious group fighting for an Islamic state in
Mindanao, adding that the motive was surely ransom.
On the other hand, The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Friday,
August 23, 2002, severely condemned the Abu Sayyaf for using jihad
(holy war) to justify killing two hostages.
"Declaring
jihad is no joke. It cannot be declared by anybody. There must be
preconditions," MILF spokesman Ustadz Eid Kabalu, MILF
spokesperson told radio dzMM in Mindanao.
The
Abu Sayyaf became notorious after kidnapping more than 20 foreigners,
mostly Malaysians and Europeans, on the Island of Pahlawan off the
coast of Borneo, Malaysia.
All
of the hostages were released subsequently after heavy ransoms were
paid to the Abu Sayyaf; two of the groups were headed by Abu Sabaya
and Commander Andang (Robot). They had colluded with another Abu
Sayyaf group in Basilan headed by founder Janjalani.
The
Abu Sayyaf says it is fighting for an Islamic state in the Islands of
Mindanao, which includes Basilan and Sulu.
They eluded the local army for years until the latter were aided by
the U.S. troops in Basilan and Sulu. Some 600 American troops took
part in operations “seek and eliminate” that drastically reduced
the number of Abu Sayyaf members.
The
operations culminated with the “killing” of Abu Sabaya, the
notorious leader of the armed wing of the group. But his body was not
found, spreading news that he is still alive.
The
U.S. has categorized the Abu Sayyaf as a terrorist organization and
linked it to the Al-Qaeda group of leader Osama Bin Laden.
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