Philippines detains 5 suspected Abu members

MANILA, Philippines—Philippine security forces on Wednesday detained five suspected members of the Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf Islamist group, a military commander said.

Troops raided an Abu Sayyaf hideout on the southern island of Basilan at dawn and caught the five suspects in their sleep, said Colonel Alexander Macario, commander of a military special task force. The five were not named.

The Abu Sayyaf is blamed for many of the country’s worst terror attacks and is on the US State Department’s blacklist of foreign terrorist organizations.

Macario said the five were part of a unit that specialized in kidnappings to raise funds for the group and security forces found specialized weapons including a sniper’s rifle during the raid.

The military believed the group was holding three hostages, all local businessmen or Basilan residents, but none of the captives were found during the operation, he added.

The Abu Sayyaf is a small gang of self-styled Islamic militants blamed for the country’s worst terrorist attacks, including a 2004 bombing of a passenger ferry that left over 100 dead.

It has also carried out bombing and kidnapping attacks targeting Americans and other foreigners in the Philippines.

Philippine intelligence officials say the group was formed in the 1990s with seed money from Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network.

US military intelligence assistance and equipment have helped the Philippine military arrest or neutralize key Abu Sayyaf leaders over the past decade, although the group is still believed to number around 300 or 400.