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SULU ISLANDS: Suspected Abu Sayyaf gunmen hijacked a jeep
transporting fuel and seized all its six passengers and driver in a
village in Maimbung town, police said on Tuesday.
The kidnapping occurred in the village of Kulasi
where Abu Sayyaf militants also snatched a Muslim teacher last week.
“There is an ongoing investigation and police
reports said six people were seized in Kulasi village by suspected
Abu Sayyaf bandits headed by Gafur Jumdail,” the provincial police
Chief, Superintendent Julasirim Kasim, told The Manila Times.
He said the victims, all local Muslims, were on
a jeep transporting six drums of gasoline when gunmen flagged down
their jeep.
“We still don’t know the motive of the
kidnapping. It could be a grudge or anything,” Kasim said.
Last week, suspected Abu Sayyaf gunmen freed a
kidnapped Muslim teacher, Lullong Marrack, hours after he was seized
also in Kulasi village. The same gang, Kasim said, was responsible
in the latest kidnapping.
The 60-year old Marrack was released unharmed.
It was unknown whether Marrack’s family paid ransom or not in
exchange for the safe release of the victim. But other sources in
the town said the victim’s family negotiated for the freedom of
the teacher.
Maimbung is a known lair of the Abu Sayyaf group
with ties to the al-Qaeda of Usama bin Laden and Indonesia’s
terror group, Jemaah Islamiya.
On Saturday, security forces killed an Abu
Sayyaf man, Sam Andal, in a clash on Pandami Island off Sulu
province. The Abu Sayyaf is still holding a kidnapped trader,
Rosalie Lao, since January. It was unknown whether Andal was
involved in the kidnapping of the 45-year old Lao, a local Muslim
with Chinese ancestry.
Last month, the Abu Sayyaf freed a kidnapped
Muslim teacher, Omar Taup, of Notre Dame University in Tawi-Tawi
province. Taup was kidnapped January 16 after militants raided the
school and killed its Catholic priest, Reynaldo Roda, after he
resisted the kidnappers.
Police did not say if ransom was paid for the
safe release of Taup, but the Abu Sayyaf had earlier demanded P1
million for his freedom.
-- Al Jacinto
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