Government responds assertively to Abu Sayyaf`s second kidnapping of Indonesians

[pr1v4t33r]

Some Indonesian coal ports ban ships to Philippines after hijackings

Authorities from at least two Indonesian coal ports have blocked ships from leaving to the Philippines due to security concerns after a spate of ship hijackings in the southern Philippines, an Indonesian government official said on Wednesday. The growing frequency of maritime attacks by Islamist militants is for the first time affecting coal trade between the Southeast Asian neighbours. Indonesia, the world’s largest thermal coal exporter, supplies 70 percent of the Philippines’ coal import needs.

“The situation in the Philippines is considered not safe and some of our ships were hijacked,” Umar Aris, Indonesia’s acting director general of sea transportation, told Reuters.

Shipping permits to the Philippines were no longer being approved at the ports of Banjarmasin and Tarakan in Indonesia’s Kalimantan, an area home to some of the biggest coal mines operated by Adaro Energy and Bumi Resources.

readmore: http://www.mb.com.ph/some-indonesia...ippines-after-hijackings/#Omupr2rDyzcGLboK.99


This incident will deffinitely disrupt coal supply to Philippines power plants

 

[pr1v4t33r]

Indonesian Army officer seeks Misuari's help in rescue efforts

An Indonesian military official sought the help of Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) founding chairman Nur Misuari in a bid to rescue 14 Indonesian nationals abducted in Mindanao, a top MNLF official claimed Friday.

The hostages were on board a tugboat when they were kidnapped by alleged members of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) in two separate incidents on April 15 and last March. Habib Mudjahab Hashim, chairman of the MNLF Islamic Command Council, said the foreign military official personally met with Misuari in the latter's hideout in Sulu to ask for his help.

Hashim said the meeting occurred four or five days ago, and was facilitated by local officials of Sulu. He said Misuari responded positively to the request of the military official. Hashim added that Misuari might be able to persuade the ASG to release some of their hostages, out of respect for him. He pointed out that Alhabsy Misaya, an ASG leader tagged in the kidnapping, was a former MNLF commander.

http://news.abs-cbn.com/nation/regi...officer-seeks-misuaris-help-in-rescue-efforts

 

[Indos]

Philippine clash leaves 18 soldiers, 5 militants dead
By JIM GOMEZ

Apr. 9, 2016 7:39 PM EDT

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippine military suffered its largest single-day combat loss so far this year when 18 soldiers were killed in fierce fighting with Abu Sayyaf extremists that also left five Islamic militants dead, including a Moroccan fighter, the military said Sunday.

At least 53 other soldiers were wounded in Saturday's daylong clashes with the Abu Sayyaf militants and allied gunmen in the hinterlands bordering the towns of Tipo Tipo and Al-Barka on Basilan island, regional military spokesman Maj. Filemon Tan and other army officials said.

The large combat casualties were reported as the Philippines marked the Day of Valor Saturday to remember Filipino veterans who died in World War II.


Government forces were deployed to kill or capture Abu Sayyaf commander Isnilon Hapilon, who has publicly pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group and has been hunted for years for his alleged involvement in several terrorist attacks, three military officials told The Associated Press Saturday. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak publicly about the military assault.

Washington has offered a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to Hapilon's capture and prosecution.

The Abu Sayyaf militants, many of whom were armed with M203 grenade launchers, apparently managed to reinforce their ranks quickly as the fighting raged and gathered between 100 and 150 fighters, allowing them to inflict heavy casualties on government troops, the officials said.

The fighting lasted for more than nine hours, they said.

Among the slain militants was a Moroccan, who was identified as Mohammad Khattab, and a son of Hapilon, Tan said, adding about 20 other gunmen were wounded.

It's the largest single-day government combat loss this year in the south, where the military has been battling Muslim separatist rebels and extremists, and Marxist guerrillas.

Last year, 44 police commandos were killed in clashes with various Muslim insurgent groups in southern Mamasapano town while on a covert mission that was fraught with faulty planning and execution but nevertheless killed a top Malaysian terror suspect in Southeast Asia.

Outrage over the police deaths stalled a peace deal with the largest Muslim insurgent group some of whose fighters got entangled in the fighting.

The Abu Sayyaf was founded in 1991 in Basilan, about 880 kilometers (550 miles) south of Manila. With an unwieldy collective of preachers and outlaws, it vowed to wage jihad, or holy war, but lost its key leaders early in combat, sending it on a violent path of extremism and criminality.

The United States and the Philippines have separately blacklisted the Abu Sayyaf as a terrorist organization for carrying out deadly bombings, extortion, kidnappings for ransom, and beheadings of locals and foreigners, including Christian missionaries in the south.

More than a decade of U.S.-backed Philippine offensives have weakened the Abu Sayyaf, but it remains a key security threat.

The brutal group has been blamed for a spike in kidnappings for ransom in recent weeks, including the separate abductions of 10 Indonesian tugboat crewmen near southern Tawi Tawi province and four Malaysian tugboat crewmembers off Malaysia's Sabah state on Borneo Island.

An Abu Sayyaf faction freed a former Italian missionary on Friday after six months of jungle captivity on Jolo island in Sulu province, also in the south. There has been speculation that a huge ransom was paid to secure the freedom of Rolando del Torchio, who was flown to Manila on Saturday, but the military said it was unaware of any such payment.

The militants are believed to be holding three Filipinos and 18 foreigners, including two Canadians and a Norwegian, mostly in their jungle encampments on Jolo Island.

 

[pr1v4t33r]

Philippine clash leaves 18 soldiers, 5 militants dead

That's old news bro... Philippines soldiers killed 13 militant on the next skirmish.

And now, Indonesia put 2 Naval vessels to patrol the area and blokade all merchant traffic from Indonesia to Southern Philippines until all the situation back to normal.

 

[orang biasa]

Head of ‘Abu Sayyaf captive’ dumped on Sulu street – police


Armed men abducted Canadians John Ridsdel and Robert Hall with Filipino girlfriend Marites Flor (inset photos) and Norwegian Kjartan Sekkingstad on the Island Garden City of Samal, just off Davao City, in September 2015. INSET PHOTOS COURTESY OF AFP EASTERN MINDANAO COMMAND/FACEBOOK

Update

(This update adds a report from the Associated Press saying Canadian John Ridsdel was the victim .)

ZAMBOANGA CITY – The Abu Sayyaf killed one of its foreign captives in Sulu on Monday, the local police said.

The police gave the confirmation after a severed head, believed to be that of a foreign kidnap victim, was found at the corner of Mayor Salih Yusah and Sari Ahmad Streets in Barangay Walled City, Jolo, Sulu on Monday night.

Chief Insp Junpikar Sittin, police chief of Jolo, said the head that appeared to belong to a “Caucasian-looking” person, was placed in a plastic bag and was found at 7:35 p.m Monday.

“We need to search for the body,” Sittin said.

Dr. Raden Ikbala, one of the physicians of the Integrated Provincial Health Office, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that Kjartan Sekkingstad, a Norwegian, was beheaded around 3:35 p.m. Monday.

“He was beheaded by the Abu Sayyaf in Sitio Pegeh Mount Dahu, Barangay Langub in Talipao town. It’s confirmed because the head is in the Jolo police station,” Ikbala told the Inquirer.

But latest report from the Associated Press said it was Canadian John Ridsdel who was beheaded.

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed that the decapitated head of a Caucasian male recovered Monday belong to Risdel, one two Canadians taken hostage by Abu Sayyaf militants in September.

Trudeau said Ridsdel was from Calgary, Alberta. He said his government will work with the government of the Philippines and international partners to pursue those responsible for this “heinous act.”

Two men on a motorcycle left Ridsdel’s head, placed inside a plastic bag, along a street in Jolo town in Sulu province and then fled, Jolo police chief Supt. Junpikar Sitin said.

The bandit group earlier demanded a P300-million ransom for each of the victims, to be paid on April 25 or the victims will be killed. SFM/ AC
http://globalnation.inquirer.net/138928/head-of-abu-sayyaf-captive-dumped-on-sulu-street-police

my deep condolence

 

[nufix]

dang ! what a slap to phil government

 

[WuMaoCleverbot]

Indonesian sailors held by Abu Sayyaf freed in Sulu
May 1, 2016 4:21 PM

ZAMBOANGA CITY - Ten Indonesian sailors abducted by Abu Sayyaf Islamic militants were freed in the southern Philippines on Sunday after five weeks in captivity, Philippine police said.

Unknown men dropped off the 10 tugboat crewmen at the home of provincial governor Abdusakur Tan Jnr on the remote island of Jolo during a heavy midday downpour, Jolo police chief Junpikar Sitin told AFP by telephone.

"The report (of their release) is confirmed. They were there. I saw them," Superintendent Sitin added.

The condition of the former captives was not immediately known, though Sitin said the group ate lunch at the governor's home.

They were abducted on March 26 by gunmen described by Philippine authorities as members of the Abu Sayyaf, a small group of militants based on Jolo and nearby Basilan island which is accused of kidnappings and deadly bombings.

The militants are reported to have sought a ransom, but Sitin said he was unaware that any had been paid. Abu Sayyaf does not normally free hostages unless a ransom is paid.

The Indonesians were freed six days after Abu Sayyaf members beheaded a Canadian hostage, John Ridsdel.

Philippine President Benigno Aquino vowed Wednesday to neutralize the Islamic militants after Ridsdel's decapitated head was left outside a government building on Jolo.

The authorities said the group is still holding 11 other foreign hostages -- four Indonesians, four Malaysians, another Canadian, a Norwegian, and a Dutchman.

Abu Sayyaf is a radical offshoot of a Muslim separatist insurgency in the south of the mainly Catholic Philippines that has claimed more than 100,000 lives since the 1970s.

It is believed to have just a few hundred militants but has withstood repeated US-backed military offensives against it, surviving by using the mountainous, jungle terrain of Jolo and nearby islands to its advantage.

Abu Sayyaf gangs have earned many millions of dollars from kidnapping foreigners and locals since the early 1990s.

Although Abu Sayyaf's leaders have pledged allegiance to Islamic State, analysts say they are more focused on lucrative kidnappings-for-ransom than setting up an Islamic caliphate.

http://interaksyon.com/article/127154/indonesian-sailors-held-by-abu-sayyaf-freed-in-sulu

I hope no ransom was paid for their release.

 

[Zero_wing]

dang ! what a slap to phil government

Well compare to 14 dead abus i say it's a good day i hope the Joint patrol would kill these arrogant SOBs for good these morons are just making the world smaller for them with their arrogant kidnappings