Sayyafs threaten to execute 3 hostages

SULU - Abu Sayyaf militants, whose group has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, have threatened to execute two Indonesian and a Malaysian hostages, being held captive in southern Philippines is ransoms are not paid in exchange for their lives, Malaysian media reports said.

It said militants, who spoke in Bahasa Malaysia, released a video clip which showed the Indonesian hostages - believed to be Heri Ardiansyah, 19, and Hariadin, 45 - being guarded by gunmen. The Malaysian hostage, Jari Abdulla, 24, was not with the duo.

The captives, their eyes covered with black cloth and hands tied behind their back, made an emotional appeal for their government to save them. One militant even held a bolo on the neck of Hariadin as he spoke to the camera in forested area.

The video, reports said, surfaced several days after Abu Sayyaf gunmen phoned Jari's wife, Nadin Junianti, saying that no Malaysian authorities or negotiators have contacted them to secure her husband's release.

The gunmen said that her husband would face difficulties if there was no contact from Malaysia. They also asked her for telephone contacts of Malaysian journalists. Nadin has appealed to Malaysian authorities to help secure her husband's release. She said it was second time the kidnap group had contacted her.

Malaysian media did not say how much ransoms the Abu Sayyaf is demanding for the safe release of the hostages. The militants are believed to be holding nearly a dozen captives, mostly foreigners.

Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Omar Mammah has said that they were working with their Philippines counterparts to secure the hostages' release. The hostages were kidnapped at sea off Sandakan in Sabah on December 5, 2018. (Mindanao Examiner)

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Sayyafs abduct 3 Indonesian fishermen in Sabah

SULU – Three Indonesian fishing crew members were reported kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf gunmen off Sabah near the Philippine border and had been taken to the southern Filipino province of Sulu, Malaysia media said Sunday.

It said the trio was working for a fishing company in Sandakan 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 and wounded an Indonesian crew two days later in a failed abduction.

Sabah police recovered the trawler of the missing Indonesian crewmen with its engine still running. “They were abducted on Wednesday. One of the victims apparently made contact with a family member late Thursday night. The sources also disclosed that the family member was urged to seek the assistance of the Indonesian consulate,” the Star reported.

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 the recent attack on tugboat off Pegasus Reef.

The names of the abducted Indonesians were not made public by the Star Online, but said their ages are between 19 and 40.

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.

Panamao is near Luuk town where Abu Sayyaf had freed their Indonesian hostages several times in the past. Just December 6, the militants freed the 35-year old Usman Yusuf in Luuk’s Bual village.

Yusuf was quickly brought to a military base in the capital town of Jolo after soldiers recovered him in Bual village. He was kidnapped along with another Indonesian man Samsul Saguni, 40, in September 11 off Gaya Island in Sabah’s Semporna town and brought to Sulu, one of 5 provinces under the Muslim autonomous region. Saguni’s fate remains unknown. 

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. But in September, the Abu Sayyaf had previously released other kidnapped Indonesian hostages to Nur Misuari, chieftain of the former rebel group Moro National Liberation Front, and his wife Tarhata; and a former Indonesian army general Kivlan Zein who was believed to have negotiated for the victims’ freedom.

In September 14 this year, the militant group, whose leaders pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, also released to Misuari 3 other Indonesian hostages Hamdam Salim, Subandi Sattuh and Sudarlan Samansung, who were kidnapped at sea off Sabah in January.

In August 2016, civilians recovered 2 of seven Indonesian sailors Ismail and Mohamad Soyfan in the same village of Bual. The duo was part of a crew of tugboat Charles kidnapped in June of the same year after militants on speedboats intercepted the vessel while heading to Samarinda in East Kalimantan following a trip from the Philippines.

The remaining hostages - Ferry Arifin, the skipper; M. Mahbrur Dahri, Edi Suryono, M.Nasir, and Robin Piter were eventually freed by the Abu Sayyaf to Misuari on October 2, 2016.

There was no immediate reports from the Philippine military on the latest abductions. But it recently said that the Abu Sayyaf is still holding at least three more foreigners and three Filipinos in southern Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner)

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Gunmen attack Indon boat off Sabah

ZAMBOANGA CITY – An Indonesian tugboat crew member was wounded after gunmen attacked their vessel off Sabah despite a tight security being imposed by the police following threats of Abu Sayyaf kidnappings in the rich eastern Malaysian state near the Philippine border of Tawi-Tawi.

  

A map shows Pegasus Reef in Sabah in Malaysia where the attack occurred December 6, 2018. (Mapcarta.com / Mindanao Examiner)

Four gunmen on a speedboat opened fire on a tugboat and hitting its skipper Didy Saviady off Pegasus Reef late Thursday. The attackers managed to board the Magtrans II tugboat, but the wounded crew man, who was on the top deck, fired a parachute signal rockets at the gunmen who quickly fled, according to Malaysian media reports.

Sabah police said the attack was a piracy attempt, although no individual or group claimed responsibility for the assault on the boat. Police commissioner Datuk Omar Mammah said the Indonesian man had been shot in the left thigh and was taken to hospital in Lahad Datu town by a marine police team.

The boat, which has 13 crew members, left the coastal town of Bintulu in Sarawak on December 2 to collect timber in Papua New Guinea.

It was unknown whether the raiders were Abu Sayyaf militants or Filipinos with links to the notorious terrorist group, blamed by Malaysia and the Philippines for the spate of ransom kidnappings inside Sabah.

The attack occurred the same day that the Abu Sayyaf freed a kidnapped Indonesian fisherman Usman Yusuf in the town of Luuk in Sulu, one of 5 provinces under the Muslim autonomous region.

The 35-year old Yusuf was quickly brought to a military base in the capital town of Jolo after soldiers recovered him around 7.30 in the morning in Bual village. Yusuf was kidnapped along with another Indonesian man Samsul Saguni, 40, in September 11 off Gaya Island in Sabah’s Semporna town and brought to Sulu, one of 5 provinces under the Muslim autonomous region. But the fate of the second hostage remains unknown.

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 and his wife Tarhata; and a former Indonesian army general Kivlan Zein.

In September 14 this year, the militant group, 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 at sea off Sabah in January.

In August 2016, civilians recovered 2 of seven Indonesian sailors Ismail and Mohamad Soyfan in the same village of Bual. The duo was part of a crew of tugboat Charles kidnapped in June of the same year after militants on speedboats intercepted the vessel while heading to Samarinda in East Kalimantan following a trip from the Philippines.

The remaining hostages - Ferry Arifin, the skipper; M. Mahbrur Dahri, Edi Suryono, M.Nasir, and Robin Piter were eventually freed by the Abu Sayyaf to Misuari on October 2, 2016. The Abu Sayyaf is still holding at least three more foreigners and three Filipinos in southern Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner)

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