Abu Sayyaf abducts 2 men in Sulu

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines—Despite being shot at, a locally hired guide walked a considerable distance and reported to military authorities that two men had been kidnapped in Sulu on Tuesday, the authorities said.

Senior Superintendent Abraham Orbita, Sulu police director, told the Inquirer that Aquino Hadjula, who had no injuries despite being shot at by armed men, arrived at a Philippine Marines camp on Tuesday and told soldiers there he had just escaped from a group of kidnappers who had taken his two companions.

The two victims were identified as Nasri Abubakar, 40, and Dennis Aluba, 30, who were described initially as employees of Globe Telecom.

But in a statement issued on Wednesday, Globe clarified that Abubakar and Aluba are not Globe employees.

Yoly Crisanto, head for Globe Corporate Communications, said that the alleged kidnapping incident was unfortunate but explained that the two victims are actually technical staff of QTel which was tapped by Nippon Electric Company (NEC) to set up network transmission requirement in the area as contractor of Globe.

“We have assisted our sub-contractor QTel in reporting the incident to the military. Globe will cooperate fully with the authorities as necessary. We empathize with the families of the victims and we are hopeful for their safe recovery,” Crisanto added.

Colonel Jose Johriel Cenabre, a military provincial commander, said Hadjula told the military the incident took place in Sitio Santol in Patikul. The area is several kilometers away from the Marines brigade headquarters.

Cenabre said the three were traveling on board motorcycles when they were stopped by about 10 Abu Sayyaf gunmen Tuesday in a village in mountainous Patikul town in Sulu province.

“The victims came from Talipao and were on a motorcycle on their way to Patikul when 10 armed men flagged them down. Hadjula managed to escape despite being shot at several times,” Cenabre said.

Cenabre says marines looking for the gunmen and their victims later took into custody a suspected Abu Sayyaf militant for questioning.

Although weakened by battle setbacks, the Abu Sayyaf group remains a national security threat and holds several hostages, including two European birdwatchers and a Jordanian journalist. With a report from Associated Press

(Editors’ note—We are reposting this story to include the clarification issued by Globe Telecom)

Originally posted at 11:30 a.m. | November 6th, 2013