Abu sets urban attacks
Flee to
safer areas, bandits urge Muslims in Mindanao
By Manny Marinay, Charmaine Deogracias and
John Paul Jubelag
THE Abu Sayyaf
terrorists threatened yesterday to launch attacks on urban centers and pledged to behead
Christians and torch their homes, as one of its leaders urged Muslims to flee to safe
areas.
The rebel
warning came as Malacañang pledged to respect the human rights of Jolo residents in the
event of a military assault against extremist rebels holding 19 foreign and Filipino
hostages.
Palace
officials insisted no assault would take place until the hostages are released, but the
Armed Forces continued the rapid deployment of government troops.
Malaysia,
meanwhile, washed its hands of the hostage crisis and said it would not protest any
Philippine decision to use force against the hostage-takers.
Malaysian
Ambassador to Manila Mohammad Arshad bin Manzoor Hussein met with Foreign Affairs Acting
Secretary Franklin Ebdalin for 30 minutes and appealed to the Philippines, “to do
whatever is within their means to ensure the early and safe release” of the three
Malaysians seized Sunday from Pandanan island, Sabah.
While Archad
stressed he was not pushing for an assault, the envoy said, “it is the option and
privilege of the Philippine government and it is not for Malaysia to tell them to go there
(Abu Sayyaf lairs) or not.”
Ebdalin, speaking
to reporters before his meeting with Arshad, indicated that Malaysian officials realized
“the defect” in their previous position of negotiating and paying ransom for
their captive nationals.
Massacre threat
The Southern
Command said troops being sent to Mindanao would be pitted against both the Abu Sayyaf and
the country’s largest separatist group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Until Malacañang
gives the green light, however, troops will not move, AFP officials stressed.
Abu Sabaya, the
leader of the band holding American hostage Jeffrey Craig Edward Schilling, threatened to
stage a repeat of the raid on Ipil town, Zamboanga del Sur, where a composite group of
rogue Abu Sayyaf and rogue elements of the MILF and the Moro National Liberation Front
(MNLF) killed more than 50 people on April 4, 1995.
In an interview
with Radio Mindanao Network (RMN), Sabaya said: “They (government officials) will get
what they’re looking for. This will be bloody. We will kill civilians.”
Sabaya, whose real
name is Ahmad al Salayuddin, added: “For every one of our member killed, we will take
10 lives.”
However, AFP
spokesman Brig. Gen. Generoso Senga said the military has already secured vital government
and private installations in Mindanao in anticipation of Abu Sayyaf attack.
Urban rangers
Sabaya said Abu
Sayyaf “urban rangers” have arrived in Zamboanga, Davao and General Santos
cities, with enough arms and ammunition to exact major damage “in the downtown areas.”
His threat
coincided with the bombing of an ABS-CBN affiliate radio station in Pagadian City. Police
officials there, however, blamed the MILF for the blast, citing the use of the mainstream
rebels’ trademark mortar explosive.
In Camp Aguinaldo,
intelligence officers said they were “taking seriously” Sabaya’s threat.
A senior
intelligence officer cited reports of sightings of Abu Sayyaf rebels in the cities of Sulu
and Zamboanga. Rebels have also recently splurged on arms and ammunition, as well as
transportation and communication equipment, after receiving $15 million in ransom for
their Malaysian and European hostages.
Meanwhile, Camp
Aguinaldo announced that US Defense Secretary William Cohen will meet today with Defense
Secretary Orlando Mercado to discuss bilateral ties.
Officials,
however, said discussions would also involve the ongoing hostage crisis.
Cohen’s
meeting with Mercado will focus on the Visiting Forces Agreement, ratified by the
Philippine Senate last year.
AFP Civil Service
Relations chief Col. Jaime Canatoy told THE MANILA TIMES troops would only need an hour to
launch their assault on the Abu Sayyaf.
“Isang oras
lang, kayang-kaya na naming magpadala ng puwersa,” he said.
Canatoy boasted
that there is no need to send reinforcements as combined elite military and police forces
in place would be enough to crush the Abu Sayyaf.
MILF target,
too
Military officials
said the deployment of additional troops to Mindanao would prevent mainstream separatist
rebels from regaining the capability to launch conventional warfare against state forces.
“Authorities
cannot allow the resurgence of a ragtag rebel band growing into a force capable of
engaging troops in conventional war,” Colonel Delfin Lorenzana, 601st infantry
brigade commander said justifying the realignment of forces.
He said this would
be too costly, in terms of lives lost and economic damage.
The government has
already spent P1.2 billion to neutralize the MILF, although it has admitted that only a
few hundred of the group’s thousands of weapons has been recovered.
AFP officers said
the Army’s 7th Infantry Division will soon move out from Fort Magsaysay, Nueva Ecija
and transfer to San Francisco town, Agusan del Sur to secure Caraga Region and Davao
areas.
With the new
division, Mindanao will have a total of four Army divisions—the 1st in Zamboanga, 4th
in Northern Mindanao, 6th in Central Mindanao and 7th division in Southern Mindanao.
The 68th infantry
battalion in Kiamba, Sarangani, a unit of the 7ID will move to Davao del Sur, replacing
the 75th battalion of the 6th Division which, will take over the post vacated by the 6IB.
The Davao
provinces and Caraga Region will be under the new division, while the entire Central
Mindanao will belong to the 6th Division.
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