ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – Three of the five suspects of the Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf arrested by Philippine security forces have been turned over to village officials who cleared them and said they were just being used as “porters.”
“With the help of an informant, we were able to identify two of the five suspects as Abu Sayyaf bandits,” said Major Harold Cabunoc, Philippine Army’s deputy spokesperson.
“The AFP [Armed Forces of the Philippines] is not after the Moro people,” Cabunoc said. “We are only after the actual members of the ASG [Abu Sayyaf Group] and as proof of our sincerity, we released the three to the village officials in good faith and this is strong expression of our position and respect for human rights.”
Army spokesman Colonel Antonio Parlade identified the two Abu Sayyaf suspects as Stanyul Ahlalul and Nurudin Mandiki.
Soldiers from the Army’s Special Forces and Scout Ranger units raided the 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.
Macario said the suspects 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.
“Our highly trained soldiers were able to surprise the rebels at 5:30 am,” said Macario.
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.
Recovered from the scene were a 5.56 millimeter M653 rifle with sniperscope, three caliber 5.56mm N16 rifles and one caliber 30 US M2 Carbine rifle and hundreds of assorted ammunition.
Second assault
The raid on Barangay (village) Upper Cabengbeng in Sumisip town early Wednesday was the second such action by the military since last Saturday in Basilan, Cabunoc said.
The Army conducted a similar raid in the town of Ungkaya Pukan on Saturday, capturing an alleged Abu Sayyaf member and a cache of arms. The raiders, however, failed to find three of Basilan’s notorious Abu Sayyaf leaders, including Nur Hassan Jamiri and Khair Mundos.
Meanwhile, SoCom forces are still pursuing a band of rebels led by Furuji Indama and Nurhassan Jamiri in the hinterlands of Basilan province, Parlade said. The group is believed to be holding three victims identified as Larry Delos Santos, a resort owner, Nico Sebastian, and a nine year-old child.
US blacklist
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.
A small gang of self-styled Islamic militants, the Abu Sayyaf is 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. With reports from Kate Evangelista, INQUIRER.net and Agence France-Presse