Soldiers rescue British couple from ASG captors
After 52 days in captivity, a British businessman and his wife were finally rescued by the Philippine Army’s Special Forces Regiment from their Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) captors in Sulu Monday morning, Nov. 25.
Allan Hyrons, 70, and his wife, Wilma, were rescued by troops of the 2nd Special Forces Battalion under the 11th Infantry “Alakdan” Division of the Philippine Army who found them abandoned at the forested areas of Mt. Piahan, boundary of Barangays Silangkan and Kaha in Parang, Sulu at around 9 a.m.
Officials said they were taken at gunpoint by unidentified attackers at their resort in Barangay Alindahaw, Tukuran, Zamboanga del Sur, on October 4, before being taken to vari
ous hideouts to mislead the pursuing troops.
Lieutenant General Cirilito Sobejana, commander of the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ Western Mindanao Command (AFP-WestMinCom), said the troops have been conducting pursuit operations for three days straight already when they finally caught up with the terrorists.
“Sunod-sunod na tatlong araw na engkwentro natin (We engaged the group for three days straight) since they were on the run. We took advantage of it and we really pursued them,” Sobejana said.
Major General Corleto Vinluan Jr., commander of Joint Task Force Sulu, said the main body of the ASG was forced to hide the kidnapped victims with minimum number of guards to avoid detection.
“They were unaware that we were monitoring and have anticipated their actions,” Vinluan said.
Finally, Sobejana said a 10-minute running gunbattle between the ASG and the Special Forces occurred on the third day of the hot pursuit.
“[It was a] running gunbattle hanggang iniwan nila, naiwan ‘yung dalawa dahil hindi na nila kayang
dalhin (until they left the two because they could not bring them with the group) so they scampered away to different directions,” he stated.
Prior to this, two armed confrontations occurred between the military and the ASG handling the kidnap victims.
The initial encounters occurred at Sitio Itum, Barangay Kabbuntakas in Patikul on November 23; and at Sitio Huton Mahablo, Barangay Silangkan in Indanan on November 24.
The first two armed confrontations resulted in the deaths of six terrorists, including a certain Sibih Pisih, a subgroup leader of the ASG under Radullan Sahiron, and one Roger Sajih, also an ASG sub-leader.
Accordingly, Sibih Pisih was one of the original subgroup leaders of the ASG before the group was split into the Sahiron and Hajan Sawadjaan factions.
He was in-charge of the ASG’s off-the-water kidnappings in the boundaries of Tawi-Tawi and Sabah, Malaysia. He has a pending warrant of arrest for the massacre of 22 civilians in Talipao Sulu, sometime in 2014.
Safe
Sobejana said the Hyrons couple were subjected to medical examination and custodial debriefing to ensure their well-being.
After they were rescued, the couple were brought to the military detachment in Jolo, Sulu and given breakfast.
“This is a big blow to their [ASG] morale, talagang makikita natin (we can really say that) they are demoralized so we will take advantage of that,” he said.
Continuous pursuit operations were conducted to neutralize the remaining ASG terrorists who are still on the run, Sobejana said, but he cautioned about the possibility that the group will retaliate by attacking soft targets.
He urged civilians to be more vigilant against suspicious elements.
At present, the ASG has still three Indonesian captives which are now the subject of rescue operations by the military.