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.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Philippine Daily Inquirer | June 7, 2012 | Article Link

PNP, Army put up check points following grenade attacks in North Cotabato town

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao, March 10 (PNA) - Police and military authorities have put up road blocks and choke points along major thoroughfares in Pikit, North Cotabato following the series of bomb and grenade attacks.


While no one was hurt in the latest incident that happened on February 9, Senior Insp. Elias Dandan, Pikit police chief, said more police are visibly deployed along residential areas and public places like markets and town centers.


Unidentified men tossed a hand grenade in front of a Mosque in Barangay POblacion at about 11:30 p.m. The blast caused fear among the residents nearby.


In February, a fragmentation grenade was also lobbed at the town's commercial establishments in what police believed was carried out by extortion groups.


The owner of the establishment had confirmed having received, but ignored a letter from the Al-Khobar extortion gang demanding monthly “protection money” prior to the bombing.


Dandan said investigators and Army intelligence operatives operating in Pikit are certain the latest grenade attack at the market and at the Mosque were the handiwork of the same extortion gang.


Composed of former Moro rebels, the Al-Khobar has claimed responsibility for the spate of deadly bombings of buses, commercial establishments and public terminals in North Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat in recent months.


The town police chief said one of two men riding a motorcycle in tandem hurled the grenade near the mosque and sped away.


Colonel Benjamen Hao, 7th Infantry Battalion commander based in Pikit, has augmented the undermanned town police force by establishing several choke points along portions of the highway linking Cotabato and Davao.


Common along the highway, especially during early evening rush hours, are robberies, hold-up, strafing of passenger vehicles, shooting and bombings.


Dandan said the local government is considering an imposition of curfew hours to prevent lawless elements from carrying their ill motives against innocent civilians.


---------------------------------------------------------------
RSV/NYP/EOF | Philippine News Agency | March 10,2012 | Article Link