The Mindanao Examiner Regional Newspaper
Rescue ops for 3 Indon hostages launch
SECURITY FORCES launched a massive operation in the southern island of Sulu to find and rescue 3 Indonesian fishermen kidnapped in September by Abu Sayyaf terrorists off Sabah in Malaysia.
The Abu Sayyaf demanded the Indonesian government to pay P30 million in exchange for the hostages Maharudin
Lunani, 48, and his son Muhammad Farhan, 27; and crew member Samiun Maneu, 27.
The trio also appeared in a video posted on Facebook showing them appealing to Indonesian President Joko Widodo to secure their safe release. “We were caught by the Abu Sayyaf Group on September 24, 2019. We ask the Indonesian president to help free us. The ASG (Abu Sayyaf group) has demanded 30 million pesos in ransom,” said Maneu.
The victims were seized by masked gunmen off Lahad Datu town in Sabah, just several hours by boat from the Philippine border province of Tawi-tawi in the restive Muslim autonomous region.
Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Omar Mammah has confirmed the reports. He said Filipino authorities also confirmed the ransom demand for the trio, saying, the kidnappers also phoned one of the victim’s families to relay their demand.
Army Major Arvin Encinas, a spokesman for the Western Mindanao Command, said troops were doing their best to rescue the hostages. He also quoted military commander, Lieutenant General Cirilito Sobejana, as telling Indonesian Consulate General Dicky Fabrian, that the “military is doing its best to rescue their fishermen. Our efforts are continuing.”
Last week, Special Forces soldiers and an elite Marine unit rescued a kidnapped British man and his Filipina wife following a clash with the PRO-ISIS terror group, Abu Sayyaf, in Sulu’s Parang town.
The soldiers managed to rescue Allan Arthur Hyrons, 70; and Welma Paglinawan on Mount Piahan in Parang town after militants abandoned the duo and escaping a massive military operations.
“A gunfight ensued and lasted about 10 minutes after which the bandits broke up and ran away in different directions, leaving the Hyrons at the site of the encounter on Mount Piahan in Parang town.”
“Naiwan ‘yung dalawa (ng hostages), hindi na nila kayang dalahin, so they scampered away to different directions. Pero tuloy-tuloy pa rin ang hot pursuit natin, nandoon pa rin ‘yung ating tropa, on the ground,” said Sobejana.
The couple was brought to a military base in the capital town of Jolo where they had undergone a medical examination.
Major General Corleto Vinluan, commander of the 11th Infantry Division in Sulu, said troops managed to drive the Abu Sayyaf fighters to an area and constricted their movements, forcing the militants to break up and eventually left behind their hostages after a 20-minute gun battle.
“The abductors were driven to a designated constriction area through the collective efforts of operationally-controlled units of the 11th Infantry Division as the concurrent integrator of AFP operations in Sulu.”
“Our troops were able to close in on the Abu Sayyaf group and engaged them in a 20-minute firefight. Overwhelmed by our forces, they withdrew from the site, allowing our soldiers to rescue the couple. Our unrelenting efforts to flush out there terrorists allowed our troops to pinpoint the location of the enemies and finally free the kidnapped victims,” Vinluan said, adding, there were no reports of casualties on both sides.
The rescue of the Hyrons occurred 3 days after troops killed 5 militants and wounded four others in a firefight in the towns of Patikul and Indanan. Among those who perished was Sibih Pisih, an Abu Sayyaf sub-leader under Radulan Sahiron.
Pisih was being linked by the military to cross-border kidnappings in Sabah and Tawi-tawi province. He was also implicated in the mass murder of nearly 2 dozen civilians in Talipao town in 2014, according to Vinluan. “The Abu Sayyaf group will be hunted down oneby-one if they do not surrender peacefully. We will not stop until all of them are brought to justice,” he said.
The Hayron couple was seized by 6 armed men on the night of October 4 shortly after they arrived at their resort in Alindahaw village in Tukuran town in Zamboanga del Sur province. The abductors dragged away the victims to the coastline where a motorized boat was waiting and then escaped under cover of darkness.
The kidnappings occurred during an extended martial law in the South where security forces are battling Muslim extremist groups and communist rebels in the restive region. (Zamboanga Post. With additional reporting from the Mindanao Examiner.)