No MNLF rescue of 3 foreign hostages of Abu Sayyaf - military

MANILA - The military's Western Mindanao Command denied reports that three foreign hostages of the Abu Sayyaf Group were rescued by the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).

Colonel Rodrigo Gregorio, Wesmincom spokesman, said a check with the 2nd Marine Brigade commander based in Sulu showed that there have been no MNLF offensives against the ASG since Sunday.

A certain Emmanuel Fontanilla, who introduced himself as a spokesman of the MNLF, told several media interviews that the MNLF were able to rescue three foreign hostages from the ASG on Tuesday, inluding two Dutchmen and a Swiss national.

"Wala pong katotohanan yan. Yung commander sa ground, yung commander ng 2nd marine brigade (Col. Orlando de Leon) siya mismo nag-deny lahat ng information na yun na lumalabas na hindi totoo yun," Gregorio said in a phone interview.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) earlier said the ASG is holding at least five more foreigners hostage in Sulu, including Jordanian journalist Baker Atyani and two European birdwatchers.

Gregorio said Fontanilla was spreading "disinformation" to the media.

In an earlier interview, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief of staff General Emmanuel Bautista said soldiers in Sulu were instructed to maintain vigilance while at the same time ensure that the conflict does not spillover to other areas in Sulu.
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Abigail Kwok | InterAksyon.com | February 7, 2013 | Article Link

Communist rebels raid mine, seize 3 men

MANILA -- Communist rebels have raided a gold mining company in the southern Philippines and demanded weapons in exchange for releasing three hostages.

Armed Forces spokesperson Major Eugene Osias said about 30 New People's Army (NPA) rebels stormed into the VTO Mining company office in Rosario tow, Agusan del Sur early Thursday and seized the owner's son and two employees.

Guerrillas have in the past raided mining firms, destroying equipment, and seized weapons as punishment for the companies' reported environmental destruction and failure to meet the rebels' extortion demands or pay "revolutionary taxes." However, they rarely demand ransom for hostages.

Peace talks to end more than four decades of the rural-based insurgency have stalled and recent efforts to revive them have failed.

The rebels are fighting for a Marxist state.

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SunStar.Com.Ph | July 5, 2012 | Article Link

Abu Sayyaf sub-leader arrested in Zamboanga

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – Combined police and military forces have arrested on Thursday an Abu Sayyaf sub-leader in this city, the police said.

Alawie Pasihul alias Ustadz Alawie Jaji and Ustadz Usman was arrested around 3:10 p.m. along Rizal Street, Barangay Zone IV in downtown Zamboanga City, according to the police. 

Pasihul is facing charges for kidnapping and serious illegal detention for his alleged involved in the March 20, 2000 kidnapping of 54 people, mostly school children, teachers and a Claretian priest in Tumahubong, Sumisip, Basilan province, the police said.

The police disclosed that Pasihul, who holds the rank of Brigadier General, is a member of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) Special Forces Command and was involved in the November 2002 Cabatangan siege in Zamboanga City.

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Jung-Jung Cabato | InterAksyon.com | June 22, 2012 | Article Link

Police kill rebel who kidnapped Americans

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (AFP) - Police shot dead a Muslim guerrilla who was allegedly behind the kidnapping of two Americans in the southern Philippines, officials said on Monday, June 18.

Police commandos killed Wahid Pingli in a raid Sunday, June 17, on his home on Sacol island, off the coast of Zamboanga City, said regional commander Chief Superintendent Napoleon Estilles.

He allegedly abducted American Gerfa Yeatts Lunsmann and her 14-year-old son Kevin as well as a teenage Filipino nephew while they were vacationing in the troubled south in July.

"Wahid's group are also said to be responsible for extortion activities, harassment and kidnapping of prominent families and teachers in this city," Estilles told reporters.

The mother and the Filipino relative were freed unharmed in October while Kevin Lunsmann walked free in December amid suspicions that ransom was paid.

Documents found in the raid showed that Pingli was a member of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), a Muslim separatist group that is engaged in peace talks with the government, Estilles said.

An assault rifle, a grenade launcher and bullets were also recovered, the police commander added.

MILF spokesman Von al-Haq confirmed that Pingli was a member but denied that he was involved in kidnappings.

"He is innocent and we are still confirming the veracity of the reports against our slain comrade," he told AFP.

The MILF will file a protest with the government over the killing which violated the ceasefire agreement between the two sides, he added.

The MILF waged a rebellion for more than three decades, originally for the establishment of an independent state in Mindanao, the southern third of the mainly Catholic Philippines.

In recent years it has dropped its independence demand and signed a ceasefire with Manila in order to negotiate for autonomous control over large areas of Mindanao.

However many Muslim extremists have turned to kidnapping for ransom to raise money, often targeting foreigners.

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Agence France-Presse | June 18, 2012 | Article Link

Ex-Moro reb tagged in kidnap of Chinese

COTABATO CITY—Authorities on Wednesday pointed to a renegade Moro guerrilla leader as the head of a group of armed men that kidnapped two Chinese mining ore traders last Monday.

Captain Albert Caber, spokesperson of the Army’s 1st Infantry Division, said in an interview with a radio station here that Waning Abdusalam, a former member of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), was the leader of the group that kidnapped Jampong Lin-Yuankai, 38, and Jian Luo, 48, of Guandong, China on Monday in Kabasalan, Zamboanga Sibugay.

Caber said authorities still do not know where the captives are being kept.

He said the two Chinese are engaged in trading of manganese and copper ores and have been in Kabasalan since last year.

At least six men, who introduced themselves as National Bureau of Investigation agents, forced their way into the Chinese traders’ apartment a few meters from the town hall in Kabasalan and took the Chinese at gunpoint.

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Philippine Daily Inquirer | June 7, 2012 | Article Link

Philippines nabs Abu Sayyaf suspect in 2001 kidnapping of Americans in Mindanao

ZAMBOANGA, Philippines - Philippine police have arrested an alleged Islamist militant suspected of involvement in a 2001 kidnapping that left two Americans dead, an official said Friday.

Sahibul Sailani was detained in the southern island of Basilan on Monday but police withheld the news until his interrogation was completed, said the provincial police chief, Senior Superintendent Alex Linesis.

Sailani is accused of taking part in the abduction of three Americans and several Filipinos from an upscale western Philippine resort in 2001, Linesis said.

The hostages were taken by boat to Basilan where the gunmen later beheaded one of the Americans, Peru-born Guillermo Sobero.

A second American, Christian missionary Martin Burnham, was killed the following year as government forces raided the kidnappers' hideout and rescued Burnham's wife.

The holidaymakers were abducted by the Abu Sayyaf, an extremist group set up with seed money from Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden. The group has been blamed for the worst terror attacks in Philippine history.

For over a decade, US special forces have been stationed in the southern Philippines to help train the military in combating the Abu Sayyaf, although they are not allowed to have a combat role.

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Agence France Presse/InterAksyon.Com | May 25,2012 | Article Link

Filipino militants free kidnapped Malaysian

Philippine officials say a Malaysian man has been freed by suspected Abu Sayyaf militants after a year of jungle captivity in the country's south. -The Associated Press

Philippine officials say a Malaysian man has been freed by suspected Abu Sayyaf militants after a year of jungle captivity in the country's south.

Sulu provincial Gov. Abdusakur Tan said Wednesday that Mohammad Nazarudin bin Saidin was released by suspected Abu Sayyaf militants in his province on Friday. It was not immediately clear if any ransom was paid for the victim, a truck driver.

Police say the victim was seized by the gunmen while buying geckos in Sulu's Indanan township in May last year. Officials say the kidnappers demanded an unspecified ransom but that the victim's family could not afford the amount, prolonging his detention.

Washington has blacklisted the Abu Sayyaf as a terrorist organization.

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 The Associated Press/ The Seattle Times | May 16, 2012 | Article Link

Sub-leader of Abu Sayyaf killed in Basilan

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) -- A sub-leader of the terrorist group Abu Sayyaf was killed in an ambush staged by lawless elements in Southern Philippine town of Al Barkah, Basilan Province, before noon Sunday, the military said.

Long Malat Sulayman, alias Long Malat, the sub-leader of Abu Sayyaf in Al Barkah and nearby Tipo-tipo, was attacked by a group of "local lawless elements" due to clan war around 11 a.m., said Col. Ricardo Visaya, commander of the 104th Brigade and Joint Task Force Basilan.

Visaya said Sulayman was hit in the leg and died of blood loss around 3 p.m. His body was later brought to Makalang village, also in Al Barkah town.

He added that Sulayman was the only Abu Sayyaf sub-leader who was hit in the ambush, which was followed by a firefight between the two sides.

Asked what will be the effect of Sulayman's death to the Abu Sayyaf, Visaya said: "Long Malat is a sub-leader of the Abu Sayyaf, so this will be a big loss to their leadership. They will be in disarray for the meantime that they have no leader."

As to the motive of the attack, the official said: "Those who staged the ambush have a land conflict with Malat. The rubber industry is booming here so what they need is space to plant. They have been fighting over land to plant rubber." 

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The Philippine Star | April 1, 2012 | Article Link

Rebels bare hardships in mountain

“WE THOUGHT joining the New People’s Army (NPA) will change our life. But nothing happened.”

These were the words of Gevion Balamban, a rebel returnee and a youth leader operating at Cabanglasan area in Bukidnon.

Balamban said they joined rebellion because their life in the mountains was hard even before the NPA came.

He said they trusted the NPA to change their life.

“Until we join, many lives of my relatives were wasted (killed),” he said.

Balamban was one of the 47 NPA rebels who surrendered to government authorities last week. They were presented to Bukidnon Governor Alex Calingasan on Thursday in Malaybalay City.

Balamban said they decided to surrender and return to the government after realizing that whatever they do, their lives would still be the same.

“We think that it is best to surrender because whatever we do, we are still the same and we are just treated as a ‘money-making’ tool by the rebels,” he said.

The 47 NPA rebels who surrendered are comprised of 12 regular members and 35 Militia ng Bayan. Of the number, 27 belong to the Umayamnon tribe operating under Nestor Manlahag in Cabanglasan, Bukidnon; while 17 operated under Rene Dal-anay in San Fernando, Bukidnon (Tigwahanon/Matigsalog Tribe).

Three of them were previously operating under Johnny Boy Masandong Andin-o also in San Fernando, Bukidnon.

The rebels surrendered at least 43 various firearms and explosives that include a Grand Rifle caliber 30, carbine, caliber 45 pistol, caliber 38 revolver, caliber 22 revolver, rifle 7.62 M14 improvise, rifle springfield, rifle caliber 22, homemade shotgun, hand grenade and improvised explosive device.

Calingasan said at least 276 rebels have already surrendered in Bukidnon, while the Provincial Government has released financial assistance amounting to P3.4 million.

He said the rebel-returnees will be given financial assistance, despite the effects of low internal revenue allotment (IRA) of the Provincial Government.

“We want them (rebel returnees) to see that the local and National Government expressed sincerity to help their situation and that we want to help them alleviate their lives especially those who are living in the mountains,” Calingasan said.

Lieutenant General Arthur Tabaquero of the Eastern Mindanao Command said he hoped that other local governments will follow what Calingasan has done in obtaining peace.

“We hope that our occasion today will facilitate the further strengthening of community and convergence in the aspect of helping out our constituents and attain a meaningful life, a society that provides them an opportunity to succeed in their chosen endeavor. I hope it will not just end on helping our brother returnees who return to the government,” Tabaquero said during Thursday’s presentation of the NPA rebels.

“After this ceremony, the most important thing is to look after how they are properly integrated back to their community so that they can immediately start building their lives and will no longer become susceptible to manipulation and exploitation of the communist terrorist,” Tabaquero added.

Earlier, Colonel Romeo R. Gapuz, commander of the 403rd Infantry Brigade, said the large number of surrenderees will surely have a negative impact on the NPA’s morale.

“While the NPAs are celebrating their anniversary and flaunting their ‘empty’ successes against the Filipino people, their comrades here in Bukidnon are surrendering and denouncing this rebel group who duped them. Because of this, we believe there will be more NPA rebels who will go down the mountains as they all realize that their government is truly working for the Filipino people,” he said.

Meanwhile, at least 79 rebel returnees under Benjamin “Ka Nonong” Salusad who surrendered last November were also recognized during the activity after they have finished a training on March 8.

The former rebels are now members of the Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit guarding their areas in San Fernando, Bukidnon.

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Michael Andrew W. Yu | SunStar.Com.Ph | March 30, 2012 | Article Link

Troops capture Abu Sayyaf camp; 6 terrorist killed

MANILA, Philippines - At least six suspected Abu Sayyaf militants were killed in an encounter with Army troops, who dismantled a terrorist camp in the outskirts of Sumisip town in Basilan late Friday afternoon.

 A soldier was also killed while several others were wounded. 

Col. Ramon Yogyog, ground commander of the troops, said the relatives of three of the slain Abu Sayyaf militants identified them as Aminin Baliyung, Obin Nasiral and Ambocoy Baliyung.

“The three other unidentified Abu Sayyaf militants were buried in Tumahubong in accordance with the Muslim burial rites,” Yogyog said. 

He said local officials of Sumisip are trying to recover the body of another militant in Barangay Pansul Baseh. 

Yogyog said the terrorist camp is composed of 23 structures, which are secured not only by snipers but also by improvised high-explosive devices rigged around its premises.

The Abu Sayyaf is reportedly preparing the new camp, which can house 70 to 100 persons, to train its new recruits.

 The military has deployed additional troops in Basilan to conduct an all-out operation against lawless groups behind the killing of 19 soldiers last year.

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Jaime Laude | The Philippine Star | March 18, 2012 | Article Link

Armed men burn heavy equipment at crushing site in Surigao City

SURIGAO CITY —  Around 150 fully armed men believed to be members of the New Peoples Army raided City Homes Basic Crushing Plant last week in Sitio Aton, Barangay Ipil, in this city and partially burned five heavy equipment owned by the Chua Family, a belated police report said.

Surigao City Police chief Supt. Jonathan Trojello said the incident took place at about 5:30 a.m. last Thursday. 
He said that suspects entered the plant's premises and forcibly took the issued firearm (shotgun with 4 live ammunition) of the security guard on duty identified as Arnulfo Katamura, adding that  some of the attackers went into the quarter of another guard on duty identified as Noel Anduyan, whose firearm was also seized.

“We are looking into three possible angles to the crime: terrorism, extortion by other armed groups pretending to be NPA, and business rivalry,” Trojello said.

Witness guard said that while the suspects were burning the heavy equipment, some of them uttered words in local dialect: “Gahi ug ulo imong amo! Cge mi og tawag dili makig istorya, ug gagmay sweldo inyo mga tauhan diri, busa mag sample me og sunog...."

(Your bosses are stubborn... our calls to them were left unanswered... workers here have low salaries that is why we are going to burn their equipment).

Some suspects also fired their arms in the air while others positioned themselves as perimeter guards.

The suspects fled to mountainous areas after the attack, Trojello quoted the witness as saying.

Also according to Trojello, the attack has the imprints of members of the NPA.

Damaged equipment were: 3 pay-loaders (TCM 850, TCM75B Michigan, 753A Michigan) and one Dumptruck (GEL 445). Damage estimate could reach P7.5 million, a PNP report said.

The Phiilippine Army also condemned the "terrorist" act by the attackers.

Major Eugenio Julio Osias, spokesman for the 4th Infantry Division, in a telephone interview with GMA News Onlie, said they will also conduct a separate investigation on the incident, in close coordination with Surigao City police.

“We are closely coordinating with the PNP on what we can do to resolved this matter as soon as possible”, Osias said.
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Natz C. Corbeta /LBG | GMA News Online | March 14,2012 | Article Link

Rebel attack wounds man

A MAN was wounded during a New People's Army (NPA) attack at the boundary of Davao del Sur and Sarangani Province on Sunday night.

Colonel Adolfo Espelas, chief of the Army's 73rd Infantry Battalion, identified the wounded victim as Allan Moda, who was hit in his upper torso.

It was learned that more than 20 NPA men started firing their weapons in sitio Makalong and sitio Danao, Barangay Lutay, Malungon, at the boundary of sitio Danwata, Malita, Davao del Sur, around 7 p.m.

Espuelas believes the attack is to mark the 40th day after one of its commander died in an encounter with the 73rd IB last January 30.

The attack was reportedly led by Kumander Lucas of Platoon Lawin, Guerilla Front 71 of the NPA.

The victim, who was brought to Malungon District Hospital, is now declared out of danger.

Espuelas has deployed more troops in the area to provide security to residents.

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Edgardo Fuerzas | SunStar.Com.Ph | March 12,2012 | Article Link

3 NPA rebels yield in Sarangani province

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao, March 11 (PNA) - After a month-long negotiation, three communist guerrillas decided to abandon armed struggle and return to the fold of the law in Sarangani province, the military said on Sunday.


Citing report from Lt. Col. Adolfo Espuelas, chief of the Army's 73rd Infantry Battalion, Col. Leopoldo Galon, Eastern Mindanao Command spokesperson, identified those who surrendered as Sulyary Tayal Yangon, Christopher Tayal Yangon, and Polceno Pablo Tanap, all residents of Barangay Bukay, Glan, Sarangani.


Galon said the New People's Army (NPA) guerrillas belonged to Unit Militia Platoon Mazda Guerrilla Front 71 of the National Democratic Front.


Since February to date, the number of NPA rebels who returned to the fold of the law reached 30, Espuelas said in his report to EastMinCom.


He said the rebels had grown tired of hiding in the mountains and depriving themselves of the freedom to move freely and live in the mainstream society.


Galon said with the intensified campaign of the government for enemies of the state to embrace the mainstream society, more NPA rebels are expected to come out soon. 


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scs/NYP/EOF | Philippine News Agency | March 11,2012 | Article Link

2 Abu Sayyaf bandits fall

ISABELA CITY, Basilan - Government forces have arrested two Abu Sayyaf bandits on separate occasions in this city, a top police official announced Wednesday.

Basilan Police Director Alex Linesis identified the arrested bandits as Serhab Akalon and Anni Idris, who were arrested on the strength of warrant of arrests.

Akalon was arrested around 5:30 a.m. Wednesday in Sitio Mompol, Benembengan village, Sumisip town, while Idris was arrested around 11:25 a.m. Tuesday in the village of Binuangan in this city.

Akalon was arrested by the troops from the Army's 4th Scout Ranger Battalion, who were on security operation to protect the construction of the Benembengan section of the Basilan circumferential road project.

Linesis said the troops have confiscated from Akalon's possession an M-16 Armalite rifle with three magazines of ammunition and a hand grenade.

He disclosed that Akalon was among the 31 inmates who escaped from the provincial jail in this city when alleged Abu Sayyaf bandits and rebels attacked the detention facility on December 13, 2009.

Akalon has a standing warrant of arrest for kidnapping and serious illegal detention and frustrated murder, he said.

Idris was arrested by combined police and military operatives along the Binuangan section of the Isabela City-Lamitan City highway, Linesis said.

Idris, who has standing warrant of arrest for kidnapping and serious illegal detention, was involved in the kidnapping of six workers of the Golden Harvest Plantation in the village of Tairan, Lantawan town in 2001, Linesis said.

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Bong Garcia | SunStar.Com.Ph | Wednesday, March 7, 2012 | Article Link

Rebels kill rubber plantation manager

MANILA — Authorities say suspected communist rebels in the south have killed a rubber plantation manager who was also a military intelligence agent.

Kidapawan town police chief Renante Cabico says two men shot Patrick Winiger at close range Wednesday as he was buying vegetables in the local market. The gunmen took Winiger's pistol and wallet and fled on motorcycles with two other men who served as lookouts.

Cabico says the 47-year-old served as a military intelligence agent and was an anti-communist crusader who had organized local tribesmen to fight the rebel New People's Army.

Regional military spokesman Col. Leopoldo Galon says Winiger's plantation hires former rebels.

Cabico says Winiger is of Swiss descent and was born in the Philippines.

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AP | SunStar.Com.Ph | Wednesday, March 7, 2012 | Article Link

2005 bomb plot suspect arrested in O. Mindoro

MANILA, Philippines - An alleged Rajah Solaiman Movement (RSM) leader tagged in a 2005 plot to bomb establishments in Metro Manila was arrested in Oriental Mindoro Sunday, officials said yesterday.

Dinno Amar Pareja – who uses the aliases Khalil Pareja, Rash, Abu, Jihad, Mohammad, Arlan, Al Luzon and Ahmad – did not resist when he was cornered by Philippine National Police (PNP) Intelligence Group (IG) in Barangay Libertad, Roxas town.

“He expressed willingness to cooperate in our investigation of incidents involving RSM terrorists,” IG director Chief Superintendent Manny Barcena said.

Police said the RSM is a local militant cell composed of Muslim converts with links to the Abu Sayyaf, Jemaah Islamiyah and the al-Qaeda.

Barcena said Pareja, is the subject of an arrest warrant issued by Pasig Regional Trial Court Branch 154 Judge Abraham Borreta for murder and multiple frustrated murders.

The PNP said Pareja took over command of the RSM after its leader, Hilarion “Akmad” Santos, was arrested and detained at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City in 2005. Pareja was arrested for rebellion in 2009 but was released from detention in 2010 after the evidence against him was found to be weak.

“He went into hiding in Oriental Mindoro after getting wind that several arrest warrants for his role in killings and bombings in Mindanao were issued against him by various courts,” Barcena said.

Borreta recommended no bail for Pareja, who is being subjected to tactical interrogation at the IG headquarters in Camp Crame.

According to the PNP, Pareja was reportedly trained by Jemaah Islamiyah terrorists Dulmatin and Umar Patek on demolition and explosives, firearms familiarization and radical Dawah training in Camp Jabel Guba at Mt. Caranao, Central Mindanao in 2004.

Pareja is allegedly a key participant in the foiled bomb plot – codenamed “Big Bang” or “Great Ibadah” – targeting establishments in Metro Manila, especially those frequented by Americans.

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Non Alquitran |  The Philippine Star | March 07, 2012 | Article Link

Camarines clash prompts call for ceasefire

MANILA (Updated 4:08 p.m.) -- A lawmaker renewed a call for ceasefire between the military and communist rebels after reports that two children were killed in a clash in Camarines Norte over the weekend.

"How many more have to lose their lives before we realize that nothing good comes from this conflict? Let's end this now for the sake of our children," Senator Francis Pangilinan, chairman of the Senate committee on social justice, said in Filipino Monday.

Peace talks between the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) and the government have been on hold over a dispute on an agreement giving CPP-NPA-NDF consultants immunity from arrest. The NDF said the government has arrested members covered by the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (Jasig) anyway.

The Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process said the government "cannot blindly extend Jasig coverage to just anyone that the NDF alleges is covered, especially since the NDF has consistently claimed highly placed captured party members to be covered by aliases in its Jasig list, without offering any proof."

According to reports, two children of suspected members of the NPA were killed alongside their father in Labo, Camarines Norte this weekend. Another daughter was reportedly hit in the leg during the firefight.

The NPA opened fire at soldiers sent to Labo to check reports that there were rebels there.

"Four decades of fighting is too long. Let us not allow our children to be further victimized by the atrocities of war. We refuse to accept war and escalating violence as a fact of life. It should not be," Pangilinan said.

Jonathan de Santos/Sunnex

Monday, February 27, 2012

SunStar.Com.Ph

Article Link

Government hunts suspects in Zambo del Sur attack

ZAMBOANGA CITY –- Police and military forces are pursuing Friday a group of rebels who allegedly attacked a village in Zamboanga del Sur that left six people dead and seven others wounded.

Zamboanga del Sur Police Director Jose Bayani Gucela said he also ordered an intensified intelligence operations to establish the rebels group’s location.

Object of the manhunt operations is the group of Ami Andi and his brother Pahid, who were tagged as behind last Wednesday’s attack in Sitio Bahing, Tininghalang village, Lapuyan, Zamboanga del Sur.

Six people, including four children, were killed on the spot, while seven others were wounded when the Andi brothers-led group attacked Tininghalang village around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Four of the six fatalities were identified as Junjun Tumbal Bangholot, Rex Langhay, Raquel Langhay, Daryl Daano.

The names of the wounded victims, who were rushed to the Margosatubig Regional Hospital, were not immediately available.

The victims were at their respective residence when around 10 gunmen led by Andi brothers swooped down on their village and strafed their houses, Gucela said.

He said attack was in retaliation for the death of Andi’s brother, Sammang Andi.

Sammang Andi and one of his followers identified only as a certain Ibrahim were killed in a firefight with combined police and military forces last February 11 in Sitio Bahing, Tininghalang village, Lapuyan municipality.

Sammang and Ibrahim are wanted for the crime of murder and rape, Gucela said.

The Andi brothers suspect that the victims were the ones who tipped off the police and military about the presence of their brother in Sitio Bahing, Tininghalang village, Gucela said.

Several armed groups operate in the Zamboanga peninsula, including Muslim rebels who have been fighting for self-rule in the predominantly Christian nation for decades.

Among them are groups that often turn to banditry, extortion and ransom kidnappings for survival and elude authorities by hiding in forests and on nearby islands.

A military offensive last year overran a guerrilla camp in a neighboring province but most of the fighters escaped.

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with reports from AP/Sunnex

Friday, February 24, 2012

SunStar.Com.Ph

Link

7 killed in Zambo Sur attack

MANILA, Philippines – At least 7 people were killed, most of them reportedly were children, after heavily-armed men attacked a coastal community in Lapuyan, Zamboanga del Sur on Wednesday, February 23.

Speaking to Rappler by phone from the site of the attack, Zamboanga del Sur police director Sr Supt Jose Bayani Gucela described the incident as “an act of retaliation.”

According to police reports, more or less 10 unidentified men carrying firearms that included “RPGs (Rocket Propeller Grenade) and M16 rifles” opened fire at residents of Sitio Bahing, Barangay Tininghalang around 4pm on Wednesday.

The attack killed 7 people and hurt 3 others. A military report indicated that most of the fatalities “were probably children”.

Based on initial police investigation, the attack in the Subanen-dominated community was led by a certain Amie Andi, brother of a suspected lawless group leader who was recently arrested by local authorities. 

“Apparently, the gunmen suspected that the residents of this community were the ones who helped in the neutralization of Samang Andi,” Gucela said. “They retaliated by shooting indiscriminately at the victims.” Andi was killed in an encounter with government authorities last February 11.

Gucela said Andi, a notorious lawless group leader operating in the towns of Lapuyan and Margosatubig, has been a subject of police operation for his involvement in a string of criminal cases that included “extortion, piracy, kidnapping and murder.”

A joint police and military manhunt operation has been launched to pursue the attackers, who fled the area on board their pump boats towards an unknown direction.

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David Y. Santos

Posted on 02/23/2012 8:55 PM  | Updated 02/23/2012 9:05 PM

 Rappler.com

Link