Philippine Troops ordered to bomb fleeing kidnappers and their captives
PHILIPPINE president Rodrigo Duterte has ordered his troops to bomb extremists who flee with their captives in a bid to stop a wave of kidnappings at sea – calling the loss of civilian lives “collateral damage”.
Mr Duterte has previously stated that he had told his Indonesian and Malaysian counterparts their forces could blast away as they pursued militants who abducted sailors in waters where the three countries converge and bring their kidnap victims to the southern Philippines.
In a speech on Saturday he said he had given the same orders to Filipino forces.
Mr Duterte said he instructed the navy and the coastguard that “if there are kidnappers and they’re trying to escape, bomb them all”.
“They say ‘hostages’. Sorry, collateral damage,” he told business people in Davao, his southern home town.
He said such an hardline approach would enable the government to get even with the ransom-seeking militants.
“You can’t gain mileage for your wrongdoing, I will really have you blasted,” he said.
His advice to potential victims was: “So, really, don’t allow yourselves to be kidnapped.”
Mr Duterte’s remarks reflect the alarm and desperation of the Philippenitentiaries pines, along with Malaysia and Indonesia, in halting a series of ransom kidnappings primarily by Abu Sayyaf militants and their allies along a busy waterway for regional trade.
On Saturday, Abu Sayyaf gunmen freed a South Korean captain and his Filipino crewman abducted three months ago from their cargo ship. The gunmen handed skipper Park Chul-hong and Glenn Alindajao over to Moro National Liberation Front rebels, who turned them over to Philippine officials in southern Jolo town in predominantly Muslim Sulu province.
The Moro rebels, who signed a 1996 peace deal with the government, have helped negotiate the release of several hostages of the smaller but more violent Abu Sayyaf, which is blacklisted by the US as a terrorist organisation for kidnappings, beheadings and bombings.
Mr Duterte’s adviser dealing with insurgents, Jesus Dureza, said he was not aware of any ransom being paid in exchange for the freedom of the sailors.