Sayyaf kills German woman, seizes partner
Eight years ago they survived Somali pirates. With the Abu Sayyaf, their luck ran out.
Government forces are pursuing Abu Sayyaf gunmen who killed a German woman and kidnapped her male compatriot after commandeering the couple’s yacht off Sabah and taking it to Tawi-Tawi.
Residents discovered at about 6 a.m. Sunday the naked remains of German yachting enthusiast Sabine Merz on board the Rockall. The yacht was flying a German flag and drifting off Laparan Island in Pangutaran, Sulu, according to Maj. Filemon Tan Jr., spokesman for the Armed Forces Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom).
Abu Sayyaf spokesman Muamar Askali, alias Abu Rami, said the group is holding captive Jurgen Kantner, 70, Merz’s partner.
Askali said Merz was shot and killed after she resisted.
He claimed their group intercepted the victims’ private yacht that was cruising in the vicinity of Tanjong Luuk Pisuk, Sabah shortly before noon last Sunday.
Tan said Merz, 59, had gunshot wounds and a shotgun was found beside her.
He said the Joint Task Force TawiTawi immediately deployed troops to verify and recover the yacht and the victim.
According to Tan, the military had also coordinated with the police Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) for forensic investigation.
Joint Task Force Sulu alerted its units to intensify intelligence gathering to track down the bandits and the German hostage.
The victims were also abducted by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden and held hostage for 52 days in 2008, according to AFP.
AFP interviewed Kantner and Sabine Merz in 2009 about their ordeal when they returned to Somalia to retrieve the Rockall.
Despite being subjected to a mock execution during his ordeal, Kantner said the threat of kidnapping would never stop him from sailing.
“My boat is my life and I don’t want to lose her, nothing more. I don’t care about pirates and governments,” Kantner said in the 2009 interview from Berbera, the main port in Somaliland.
The military released a photo yesterday of the Rockall with the German flag on it.
Tan said the passports of Kantner and Merz were found on the yacht.
He said the photo in Merz’s passport appeared to match the body of the dead woman found on board, although her identity still needed to be confirmed.
Troops took custody of the woman’s body and the yacht Monday.
The body and the yacht were being examined by police investigators in Tawi-Tawi, as part of efforts to verify the Abu Sayyaf’s claim, the military’s Westmincom said in a statement.
“Alarming is that the body found was naked and had several contusions to the face and was possibly raped,” the military said.
No ransom
Presidential adviser on the peace process Jesus Dureza said the government maintains the no-ransom policy following the latest kidnapping of a German and the killing of his partner in Sulu.
“When I talk to them, I cannot talk about ransom. The government has a strong no-ransom policy,” said Dureza, who earlier interceded for the safe release of previous Abu Sayyaf victims including a Norwegian last September.
Dureza added that there was a strong possibility that the latest kidnapping spree was perpetrated by the Abu Sayyaf, noting that they have brought victims to their lairs in Sulu.
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana confirmed that the body that was recovered in the yacht was the wife of the German hostage Kantner.
“They are conducting followup operations but the woman was found dead. Her body was recovered, I think it is in Jolo. I will still get an update,” he said.
The attack on the German couple is the latest in a wave of attacks at sea by the Abu Sayyaf and allied gunmen despite efforts by the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia to jointly shore up security in their busy sea border, where Indonesians and Malaysians have been kidnapped from tugboats and fishing boats in recent months.
Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry confirmed receiving information about the separate kidnappings of two Indonesian skippers of vessels off Sabah over the weekend, saying it was in touch with Malaysian and Philippine government officials about the latest incidents.
Jakarta has called on Indonesian crewmen in Sabah to avoid sailing in the risky waters until security has improved, the ministry said.
The kidnappings have continued despite one of the largest military offensives against the Abu Sayyaf, mainly in Sulu and the nearby island province of Basilan, involving more than 6,000 troops, navy gunboats and rocket-firing air force aircraft.
In 2014, the militants abducted another German couple off a yacht in the southern Philippines. They released the pair six months later, after receiving what they said was the full ransom demand of P250 million ($5.1 million).
Islamic militants are planning to kidnap foreigners in tourist hotspots of the central Philippines, roughly 500 kilometers from the Abu Sayyaf’s bases, the US government warned last week.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Navy started yesterday a five-day naval exercise in the Davao Gulf.
Lt. Gen. Rey Leonardo Guerrero, commander of the Davao City-based Eastern Mindanao Command (Eastmincom), said the exercise would include naval gunnery, sea control and sea maneuver, naval operations, as well as search and rescue on the open seas.
“The activity is aimed at testing and evaluating the capability of the Northern Forces Eastern Mindanao in the implementation of wide range of naval operations in order to secure our southeastern sea lanes,” Guerrero said.