Troops recover bodies of slain Sayyaf fighter

ZAMBOANGA CITY – Government troops pursuing Abu Sayyaf militants on the southern island of Simisa off Sulu province have recovered 3 bodies of suspected gunmen killed in fighting as security forces combed Sunday forested areas where the terrorist group is hiding, the military said.

It said soldiers also recovered two rifles and ammunition in the area where the bodies had been found. They also destroyed a boat being used by the Abu Sayyaf in the mangrove areas of Simisa Island.

There was no report of fresh fighting on the island, but the military deployed a huge number of soldiers in Simisa to “seek and destroy” the terrorists blamed for cross-border ransom kidnappings off Sabah in Malaysia.

Government forces on the island had rescued an Indonesian Heri Ardiansyah, 19, and a Malaysian fishermen Jari Abdullah, 24, - held captive since last year by the Abu Sayyaf - but another Indonesian fisherman, Hariadin, 45, drowned while escaping from the fighting between soldiers and militants.

The trio was kidnapped in December by the Abu Sayyaf and brought them by boat on Simisa Island.
The rescued Indonesian and Malaysian fishermen and the body of Hariadin were brought to the Western Mindanao Command headquarters in Zamboanga City.

While the hunt for militants continue on the island, recent fighting on Sulu’s Patikul town had killed 3 soldiers and wounded over a dozen more after the army clashed with at least 50 militants led by Hajan Sawadjaan. The operation is still on going in the town’s hinterlands where the Abu Sayyaf fighters broke into smaller groups. The town is a stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf. (The Zamboanga Post)

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Sayyafs threaten to execute Indon hostage

SULU – Abu Sayyaf militants have threatened to kill an Indonesian fisherman if Jakarta or his employer ignores their ransom demand in exchange for the safe release of the hostage.

In a video sent by militants to his family, the 40-year old Samsul Sanguni, appealing to his employer to save him. The clip shows Sanguni - both hands tied behind his back - inside a hole in what appears to be a forest and being guarded by heavily armed militants, as he cried and pleaded for help.

Sanguni along with another Indonesian fisherman, Usman Yusuf, were kidnapped at sea near Gaya Island in Sabah’s Semporna town and brought to Sulu, one of 5 provinces under the Muslim autonomous region.

The 35-year old Yusuf was freed in December in Bual village in the town of Luuk. The release of Yusuf came after the Chief of the Indonesian Consul-General’s Office in Sabah, Sulistijo Djati Ismojo, appealed to Malaysia to resolve the kidnapping of its citizens.

It was unknown whether ransom had been paid to the kidnappers in exchange for Yusuf’s release. In September the Abu Sayyaf had previously released other Indonesian hostages to Nur Misuari, chieftain of the former rebel group Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and his wife Tarhata; and a former Indonesian army general Kivlan Zein.

In September last year, the Abu Sayyaf, whose leaders pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, also released to the MNLF 3 other Indonesian hostages Hamdam Salim, Subandi Sattuh and Sudarlan Samansung, who were kidnapped off Sabah in January.

Despite the anti-terror campaign in Sabah, Abu Sayyaf militants still kidnapped 3 Indonesian fishing crew members off Sabah and had been taken to Sulu, Malaysian media reported.

It said the trio - Heri Ardiansyah, 19; Jari Abdullah, and Hariadin, 45, were working for a fishing company in Sandakan town and had been seized by 7 gunmen on the night of December 5 near Pegasus Reef – an area where four armed men also attacked a tugboat two days later and wounded an Indonesian crew in what police said was a failed abduction.

Sabah police recovered the trawler of the missing Indonesian crewmen with its engine still running. It said, citing intelligence sources, that the gunmen were led by Abu Sayyaf commanders Al Mujir Yadah and Hajan Sawadjaan, who teamed up with another militant commander, Indang Susukan.

The group was tagged as behind the spate of ransom kidnappings in the waters of Sabah and attacks on fishing boats there. The Star Online, quoting unidentified intelligence sources, said three fishermen had been taken by their abductors to Pata Island and later transferred them to Panamao town.

The militants have been targeting Indonesian fishermen because their employers and Jakarta are paying ransoms to the Abu Sayyaf which it uses to purchase weapons, recruit members and to finance kidnappings and terror attacks in the country.   The Abu Sayyaf is still holding nearly a dozen foreign and local hostages in the restive region. (Mindanao Examiner)

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