Dutch hostage who joined Abu Sayyaf is killed in Sulu

ZAMBOANGA CITY – A Dutch hostage of the Abu Sayyaf, who was reported to have joined the pro-ISIS group after developing Stockholm syndrome after 7 years in captivity, was killed during a firefight Friday in the southern Philippine province of Sulu.

A military photo shows two cadavers believed that of Dutch hostage Ewold Horn and Mingayan Sahiron, one of the wives of Abu Sayyaf leader Radulan Sahiron who were killed on May 31, 2019 during a firefight in the southern Philippine province of Sulu.

The fighting between militants and army soldiers erupted in Pansul village in Patikul town that also killed one of the wives of Abu Sayyaf leader Radulan Sahiron. Eight other soldiers were also wounded in the battle, according to the military’s Western Mindanao Command.

It said Horn was reportedly shot by one of his captors while attempting to escape during the fighting. His body was recovered along with Mingayan Sahiron, who was slain in the clash that lasted over an hour.

“Horn was shot by one of his guards when he tried to escape from the Abu Sayyaf during this morning’s gunfight. After an hour and thirty minutes of gun battle, troops recovered the remains of Horn and that of Mingayan Sahiron, the second wife of the Abu Sayyaf top leader,” said Major Gen. Divino Pabayo, commander of an anti-terror task force in Sulu.

The military did not say if soldiers witnessed the killing of Horn or not. 

Pabayo, who described the fighting as ferocious, said six militants were allegedly killed and a dozen more injured, but it was unclear whether the casualties suffered by the Abu Sayyaf were based on intelligence reports as troops only recovered the bodies of Horn and Sahiron’s wife.

Horn, according to Sulu police commander Pablo Labra, had developed Stockholm syndrome, a condition which causes hostages to develop a psychological alliance with their captors as a survival strategy during captivity.

“We received information that he developed Stockholm syndrome and spotted carrying a weapon,” Labra told The Times on an interview just this month.

It was not immediately known whether Horn had fought security forces side by side with the Abu Sayyaf. “We really don't know if he had fought troops, but if he engages security forces and the lives of our troops are put in grave danger then we have no other recourse but to fight back,” Labra said.

Horn and Swiss wildlife photographer Lorenzo Vinciguerra were both captured by Abu Sayyaf militants under Hajan Sawadjaan and suspected Moro National Liberation Front members in the coastal village of Parangan in Tawi-Tawi’s Panglima Sugala town in February 2012. 

Vinciguerra managed to escape from his guards and recovered by soldiers in December 2014 after he allegedly killed one of his guards - Juhurim Hussien - with a bolo. (The Zamboanga Post)


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Dutch hostage joins Sayyaf in Philippines

SULU - Philippine police say a Dutch hostage of the Abu Sayyaf has joined the notorious pro-ISIS terrorist group 7 years after he and Swiss wildlife photagrapher were captured in the southern province of Tawi-Tawi.

 

In February 2012, Abu Sayyaf militants under Hajan Sawadjaan and suspected Moro National Liberation Front members kidnapped  Lorenzo Vinciguerra, from Switzerland; and Ewold Horn, 54, from Holland, in the coastal village of Parangan in Panglima Sugala town in Tawi-Tawi.

 

Vinciguerra had escaped from his guards and recovered by soldiers in December 2014 after he allegedly killed one of his guards - Juhurim Hussien - with a bolo. 

 

 

Police released to the Mindanao Examiner photos of abducted Dutch and a Swiss wildlife photographers Ewold Horn, 52, from Holland, and Lorenzo Vinciguerre, 47, of Switzerland. The duo was taken by gunmen on February 1, 2012 in the town of Panglima Sugala in Tawi-Tawi province in the southern Philippines. (Library Photo) 

Horn, according to Sulu police commander Pablo Labra, has developed Stockholm syndrome, a condition which causes hostages to develop a psychological alliance with their captors as a survival strategy during captivity. 

 "We received information that he has developed Stockholm syndrome and has been spotted carrying a weapon," Labra told The Zamboanga Post.

It was not immediately known whether Horn had fought security forces side by side with the Abu Sayyaf. "We really don't know if he had fought troops, but if he engages security forces and the lives of our troops are put in grave danger then we have no other recourse but to fight back," he said.

Labra said police forces continue to search for Horn and other foreign captives and at the same time maintain the operation against the Abu Sayyaf. "The operation against the Abu Sayyaf is continuing," he said. 

Philippine authorities blamed the Abu Sayyaf and ISIS in the twin suicide bombings of a Catholic cathedral in Sulu's capital town of Jolo early this year. The attacks, carried out by an Indonesian couple, had killed and injured dozens of people, mostly soldiers guarding the Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel on January 27.

 

The remains now of the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cathedral in sulu's capital town of Jolo in this photo taken May 12, 2019. (The Zamboanga Post)

 The bombings on the church occurred 2 years after hundreds of Abu Sayyaf and pro-ISIS militants and civilian supporters took over Marawi City in Lanao del Sur province. The city was recovered by troops after 5 months of house-to-house and close-quarter battle that killed and wounded hundreds of soldiers, militants and innocent civilians trapped in Marawi.

President Rodrigo Duterte also recently warned foreigners to stay out of Zamboanga following intelligence report that ISIS and Abu Sayyaf militants are targeting foreign nationals. “There’s a certain place which I would not recommend to anybody to go there, not just as yet, is Zamboanga. Some Europeans go there for the bird watching and they are captured and eventually they are decapitated even after the payment of ransom. It is the ISIS actually. It used to be the Abu Sayyaf.

Now it’s an Abu Sayyaf territory. They do nothing but to kill and destroy,” he said, but Duterte may have confused Zamboanga to Tawi-Tawi when he said that some Europeans birdwatchers were kidnapped there. (The Zamboanga Post)

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Duterte tells foreigners to stay out of Zamboanga, warns of possible terror attacks

ZAMBOANGA CITY - President Rodrigo Duterte has warned foreigners to stay out of Zamboanga following a credible intelligence report that ISIS and Abu Sayyaf militants are targeting the southern Philippine city.

Addressing the participants to the 7th Union Asia Pacific Regional Conference in Pasay City, Duterte was quoted by ABS-CBN as saying: “There’s a certain place which I would not recommend to anybody to go there, not just as yet, is Zamboanga. Some Europeans go there for the bird watching and they are captured and eventually they are decapitated even after the payment of ransom.”

“It is the ISIS actually. It used to be the Abu Sayyaf. Now it’s an Abu Sayyaf territory. They do nothing but to kill and destroy,” he added.

But Duterte may have been confused Zamboanga City to Tawi-Tawi province when he said that some Europeans birdwatchers were kidnapped and eventually decapitated by militants.

There had been no kidnappings of foreign birdwatchers in Zamboanga City but in February 2012, Abu Sayyaf militants under Hajan Sawadjaan and suspected Moro National Liberation Front members kidnapped two European wildlife photographers Lorenzo Vinciguerra, from Switzerland; and Ewold Horn, 54, from Holland, in the coastal village of Parangan in Panglima Sugala town in Tawi-Tawi.

Vinciguerra had escaped from his guards and recovered by soldiers in December 2014 after he allegedly killed one of his guards - Juhurim Hussien - with a bolo. The fate of Horn is still unknown.

Suicide Bombers

Philippine authorities blamed the Abu Sayyaf and ISIS in the twin suicide bombings of a Catholic cathedral in Jolo town in Sulu province early this year. The attacks, carried out by an Indonesian couple, had killed and injured dozens of people, mostly soldiers guarding the Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel on January 27.

The attacks on the church occurred 2 years after hundreds of Abu Sayyaf and pro-ISIS militants and civilian supporters took over Marawi City in Lanao del Sur province. The city was recovered by troops after 5 months of house-to-house and close-quarter battle that killed and wounded hundreds of soldiers, militants and innocent civilians trapped in Marawi.

In July 2018, a Moroccan ISIS suicide bomber, Abu Katheer al Maghribi, also detonated a van filled with explosives in Lamitan City in Basilan province, about 35 nautical miles south of Zamboanga.
Philippine authorities said 11 people were killed in the explosion at a security checkpoint after government militias stopped the suspicious vehicle in Bulanting village, about 2 kilometers away from downtown Lamitan.

The powerful explosion obliterated the vehicle and left a huge crater and among those killed were a woman and a child; and the militia commander whose unit is under the supervision of the army. Five soldiers and several civilians were also wounded in the explosion. The bomber came from a nearby town and heading to downtown Lamitan when his vehicle was stopped at the checkpoint.

Duterte’s warning came after ISIS suicide bombers struck churches and hotels in Sri Lanka that killed over 300 people on Easter Sunday.

Tight Security

Zamboanga Mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco Salazar said security is tight in the city and assured locals that police and military forces are in heightened alert. “We heightened the security in the city of Zamboanga and we continue to maintain a heightened level of alert as a pre-emptive measure following the Sri Lanka bombings,” she said.

Police said it is maintaining a high level of alert in Zamboanga, especially in places of worships, according to its spokesperson, Captain Shellamae Chang.

“Even before the Sri Lanka incidents, security forces have always secured places of worship in the city, deploying personnel in mosques on Friday, and for churches every Sunday. It is not just Christians and Muslims watching themselves, we watch over each other,” Chang said, citing the contribution of Christian and Muslim volunteer groups that help watch over each other in their respective places of worship.

City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Officer Dr. Elmeir Apolinario said the local government and security forces conduct a series of meetings to thresh out details of a security group charged with securing churches and mosques following directives from Salazar.

Dubbed as pastoral security group, Apolinario said it is composed of members of security forces and leaders of different religious organizations to assure and assist in the protection of the worshipers. (The Zamboanga Post)


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