Clinton in Manila to deepen defence ties Nov 12, 2009
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Kidnappers behead abducted principal in S Philippines Nov 9, 2009
ZAMBOANGA CITY, the Philippines, Nov. 9 (Xinhua) -- Kidnappers believed to be members of the militant Abu Sayyaf group beheaded their captive school principal, Philippine military officials said Monday. Major Ramon David Hontiveros, spokesman of the Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom), said police officials recovered around 5 a.m. Monday the decapitated head of Gabriel Canizares in Jolo, capital of Sulu province, southern Philippines. (Xinhuanet, China)
Manila seeks help to find priest Oct 15, 2009
The Philippine military says hundreds of army troops have circled the area where Father Sinnott is believed held and that their greatest concern is that the abductors may have dealings with the radical Abu Sayyaf group, who have links to al-Qaeda. A tentative ceasefire is still in place between the Philippine army and rebels of the MILF, believed to number around 11,000, who just a few months ago were involved in heavy fighting in the south of the country in which hundreds of people were killed... (BBC News -- Asia-Pacific)
Friends appeal for abducted Irish priest in Philippines Oct 13, 2009
While no group has claimed responsibility for the abduction, authorities said they suspected either the Al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group, which has a history of kidnappings, or the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front. "We are not discounting the involvement of the Abu Sayyaf and other groups, including the MILF," Pagadian police head Chief Inspector Michael Palermo told AFP.. (Yahoo! Asia News)
Kidnap: manhunt for priest Oct 12, 2009
While nobody has claimed responsibility for the abduction, police and military said they suspect that either the al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group or the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) were involved. Sinnott was forcibly dragged away at gunpoint and transferred to a waiting van, which was subsequently found abandoned and torched near a coastal area, police said. (iAfrica.com)
New inquiry ordered into deadly Afghanistan battle Oct 1, 2009
Military officials blamed the Abu Sayyaf group for planting explosives that damaged a bridge used by army tanks Tuesday night, just hours after a land mine exploded under a military convoy carrying American troops. Both attacks were in Indanan township on Jolo island, where the Abu Sayyaf has jungle strongholds and has evaded joint Philippine and U.S. military operations for years. (Fresno Bee -- Local)
Two US soldiers killed in Philippine blast: US, local military Sep 30, 2009
The explosion struck the troops as they were riding a Humvee vehicle on the outskirts of a town on Jolo island, where the Muslim militant Abu Sayyaf group is active, according to Brawner. Suspected Abu Sayyaf members set off an improvised bomb near a police station at another Jolo village about 20 kilometres (12 miles) away shortly before the explosion, local police said. (Yahoo! Asia News)
Landmine kills 2 U.S. soldiers in Philippines Sep 30, 2009
It was believed to be just the second time U.S. soldiers have been killed in the southern Philippines in violence blamed on the Abu Sayyaf group since American counterterrorism troops were deployed to the region in 2002, and the first fatalities in years ... An estimated 600 U.S. troops are currently stationed in the Philippines, mostly in the southern front lines of the Philippine military's operations against the Abu Sayyaf group and Jemaah Islamiyah. (MSNBC -- Terrorism)
• Philippine police arrest suspected Muslim militant Sep 1, 2009
Sailani , an alleged member of the Abu Sayyaf group, is accused of high-profile kidnappings of at least four Americans and dozens of Filipinos in the southern Philippines, officials said. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila). (Burley South Idaho Press, ID)
US counterinsurgency unit to stay in Philippines Aug 21, 2009
Senior officials say the American force and partners in the CIA were instrumental in successes by the Filipino armed forces in killing and capturing leaders of the Abu Sayyaf group and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, antigovernment organizations operating in the southern Philippines. In a simultaneous counterinsurgency effort in the Philippines, members of the American force have completed hundreds of infrastructure projects, including roads, schools, health clinics, and firehouses, conducted... (Boston Globe)
At least 43 killed in S Philippine clash Aug 13, 2009
Hundreds of troops Wednesday stormed two camps of the Al Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf group in the southern Basilan province. Sporadicfire-fight broke out pre-dawn and lasted until late night, military officials said. (Xinhuanet, China)
Suspected bomber behind Philippine blast arrested Jul 25, 2009
Some radical MILF guerrillas are believed to cooperate with the Al Qaida-linked regional militant network Jemaah Islamiayh and the local Abu Sayyaf group, which is blamed for a series of terrorist attacks and high profile kidnapping-for-ransom activities. Philippine Presidential Assistant for Mindanao Affairs Jesus Dureza (C) looks at the ex-ray result of blast victim Jeffrey Sayrel at a hospital in the southern Cotabato City, the Philippines, July 7, 2009. (Xinhuanet, China)
Philippines to defeat insurgents by 2010: military Jul 19, 2009
MANILA, July 19 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines' Al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group will be quashed by the end of the year 2010 as the military steps up its offensives against the infighting-plagued militant group, a senior military official said on Sunday. "We are confident of ending the Abu Sayyaf problem," Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner Jr, chief spokesman of the Armed Forces of the Philippines told a local radio. (Xinhuanet, China)
Italian hostage in Philippines freed after 6 months Jul 12, 2009
Eugenio Vagni, 61, was brought to an army base on the southern island of Jolo by a local politician who had been mediating with the kidnappers, rebels from the Abu Sayyaf group, said Senator Richard Gordon, the head of the Philippine Red Cross. Vagni and two other officials from the International Committee of the Red Cross were taken hostage on Jan 15 when they were inspecting a sanitation project at a prison on Jolo. (AlertNet)
Bomb blast in south Philippines kills at least 2 Jul 7, 2009
A radio report said police initially suspected the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf group in the explosion. The explosion follows a bomb blast Sunday outside a Roman Catholic cathedral in Cotabato city on the main southern island of Mindanao, which killed six people and wounded scores others in an attack the military blamed on the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front. (Honolulu Advertiser)
Country profile: The Philippines Jul 5, 2009
Other Muslim separatists, the Abu Sayyaf group on Jolo, have a history of violence towards hostages, and the government has declared all-out war on the rebels. Though it once boasted one of the region's best-performing economies, the Philippines is saddled with a large national debt and tens of millions of people live in poverty. (BBC News -- Asia-Pacific)
Key ally of Philippines' Arroyo escapes ambush May 15, 2009
On Wednesday, Abdusakur Tan, the governor of Sulu province off Mindanao and also an ally of Arroyo, escaped unhurt when his convoy was attacked by assailants suspected to be from the Abu Sayyaf group of militants. Ampatuan is a powerful politician whose extended family controls large parts of central Mindanao. (AlertNet)
* Rebels help foreign suspects: Manila Apr 28, 2009
Venancio said Patek and other Indonesians knew ranking commanders of the smaller but more brutal Abu Sayyaf group and the Rajah Solaiman Movement, a violent group of Islamic converts linked to deadly bomb attacks in the southern Philippines. Patek and Dulmatin also knew a commander of the Moro National Liberation Front, a group based on southern Jolo island that signed a 1996 peace pact with the government but whose members have refused to disarm, the report quoted Venancio as telling... (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- Sports)
Swiss Red Cross hostage released in Philippine Apr 19, 2009
Andreas Notter, an officer of the International Committee of the Red Cross and one of the two European hostages held by the Abu Sayyaf group, answers questions during a news conference at the capitol in Jolo, Sulu province, southern Philippines April 18, 2009. Islamic rebels in the Philippines freed a Swiss Red Cross worker held hostage for over three months but continued to hold another European captive, security officials said on Saturday. (Xinhuanet, China)
Philippines sends clerics to appeal to kidnappers Apr 16, 2009
Italian Eugenio Vagni, 62, has been suffering from a hernia and has difficulty walking as his captors, from the Abu Sayyaf group, keep moving around to elude security forces pursuing them, provincial Governor Abdusakur Tan told reporters. He said his information was said based on telephone calls made by the hostages to Red Cross officials in Manila last week. (AlertNet)
ICRC says has not had ransom demand in Philippines Apr 10, 2009
A Philippines military report seen by reporters in Manila on Tuesday said that the Abu Sayyaf group that kidnapped three ICRC workers on Jolo on Jan. 15 had demanded a $5 million ransom. The rebels had threatened to behead one of the hostages. (AlertNet)
World Watch: Philippines Hostage Deadline Passes Apr 1, 2009
Military sources confirmed that all three were still alive and the Abu Sayyaf group was being flexible. (AP Photo/Philippine Government)Officials declared a state of emergency on the Philippine island of Sulu, where the militants (seen at left in an undated file photo) are holed up, just minutes after the 2 p.m. deadline passed. (CBS News -- World)
Philippine hostage fate unknown Apr 1, 2009
The request comes a day after a deadline imposed by the Abu Sayyaf group to kill a hostage if Philippine army troops did not leave Jolo Island. The island's governor, Sakur Tan, said an informant had told him the hostages were still alive. (BBC News -- Asia-Pacific)
Philippine troops near militants' base withdraw Mar 28, 2009
Sulu provincial Gov. Abdusakur Tan said the decision by the hostage task force he heads was made in an attempt to satisfy a demand by the Abu Sayyaf group, which threatened to behead one of the captives a Swiss, and Italian and a Filipino if troops are not withdrawn from all over southern Jolo island by Tuesday. He said Albader Parad, a militant commander holding the hostages, had insisted on a complete withdrawal of all government forces. (International Herald Tribune -- Technology)
Philippine clashes near hostages Mar 18, 2009
The troops were engaging the Abu Sayyaf group for the second consecutive day on the southern island of Jolo. Three Red Cross hostages, two of them foreigners, are being held deep in the jungles of the southern Philippines. (BBC News -- Asia-Pacific)
Kidnapped Red Cross workers alive in southern Philippines Mar 15, 2009
ICRC workers -- Swiss Andreas Notter, Italian Eugenio Vagni and Filipina Mary Jean Lacaba -- were kidnapped by gunmen belonging to the Abu Sayyaf group nearly two months ago. They were abducted minutes after they left a prison on southern Jolo island where they were inspecting a water and sanitation project. (AlertNet)
Kidnapped 7-year-old rescued in S Philippines Feb 17, 2009
Porticos was at least the 14th being snatched by the Al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group and affiliated gangs in Jolo, Basilan islands, and nearby Zamboanga city in the past month. Six people, including a nine-year-old, a lending company employee, three teachers, and a Sri Lankan peace worker, remain in captive in the hinterlands of Basilan island, some 900 kilometers south of Manila. (Xinhuanet, China)
Sri Lankan in Philippines kidnap Feb 13, 2009
The recent upsurge in kidnappings has been attributed by some analysts to the Abu Sayyaf Group of armed militants, renowned for high profile kidnappings in which large ransoms are demanded. Philippine troops have been trying to reach the area on Jolo Island where the three Red Cross workers - Eugenio Vagni, Mary Jean Lacaba and Andreas Notter - have been held since they were grabbed on 15 January. (BBC News -- Asia-Pacific)
Philippine hostages make appeal Feb 7, 2009
Jolo is known to be a base for the Abu Sayyaf group. Three aid workers taken hostage in the Philippines have made a radio appeal for talks to secure their release. (BBC News -- Asia-Pacific)
