400 MNLF men help military in rescue of Sayyaf hostages

ZAMBOANGA CITY: Some 400 former armed members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) have been deployed to several forested areas of Sulu to help military personnel rescue domestic and foreign hostages still being held captive by Abu Sayyaf bandits, a top MNLF field leader has revealed.

New MNLF chief Hadji Yusop Jikiri, on supposed instruction from MNLF founding chairman Nur Misuari — who had been earlier befriended by President Rodrigo Duterte — disclosed that he has “tasked 15 of his faithful ground commanders to deploy at least 400 ex-combatants to the island province to conduct the rescue operations.”