Suspected Abu leader slain in Sibugay

THE SUSPECTED leader of a kidnap-for-ransom gang behind the abduction of an Irish priest and an Australian ex-soldier was shot dead by security forces Sunday, the military said.

Waning Abdusalam was killed after he resisted arrest by a combined military and police team, according to Maj. Filemon Tan, Western Mindanao Command spokesperson.

The suspect was gunned down in the town of Naga in Zamboanga Sibugay province.

A joint team from the 102nd Brigade of the Philippine Army’s 1st Infantry Division and the police carried out the arrest operation.

Tan said Abdusalam had been tagged in the kidnapping for ransom of numerous people in Mindanao, including three Filipino teachers in Zamboanga Sibugay in 2009, Irish missionary Father Michael Sinnott, also in 2009, and Australian Warren Rodwell in 2011.

While Sinnott was released after about a month through the intercession of a larger Muslim rebel group, Rodwell spent 15 months as a hostage and was only freed after ransom was paid.

Abdusalam may have had links to the Abu Sayyaf, the Muslim extremist group known for kidnapping foreigners and Christians, said Tan.

The Abu Sayyaf, reportedly founded with seed money from al-Qaida founder Osama bin Laden, has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States. It has been blamed for several terror attacks in the Philippines.

One-month deadline

Early this month, suspected Abu Sayyaf militants holding two Canadians, a Norwegian and a Filipino woman hostage set a one-month deadline for millions of dollars in ransom to be paid.

Canadian tourists John Ridsdel and Robert Hall, Norwegian resort manager Kjartan Sekkingstad and Filipino Marites Flor were seized from yachts in a marina in the southern Philippines in September.

The Philippine government has stressed its position of not paying ransom. Police said they were continuing efforts to rescue the hostages.

Pushing for peace deal

The Aquino administration has been pushing for a peace deal with one separatist group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. A bill on the creation of an expanded Bangsamoro homeland, a prerequisite for the peace agreement, however, did not pass muster in Congress. It will await scrutiny by a new Congress which will convene in June after national elections on May 9.

In the 1990s, a peace agreement was worked out with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) which led to the creation of the existing ARMM (Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao).

The MILF is a breakaway faction of the MNLF.

Breakaway factions

The MILF is now also beset by breakaway factions, one of them the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF)

There are also reports new rebel groups inspired by the extremely violent Islamic State (IS) are beginning to take shape in Mindanao.

The killing last year of the Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan, in Mamasapano, Maguindanao, indicated links between Islamic rebel fighters in the Philippines and neighboring Indonesia and Malaysia.

Marwan was believed to be a member of the southeast Asian terror group Jemaah Islamiyah’s central command. AFP; Julie Aurelio