Janjalani aide captured

A suspected Abu Sayyaf member was reportedly arrested yesterday in a raid on the rebel lair close to a major military headquarters in Zamboanga City.

This developed as President Arroyo, in a bid to allay fears of investors, reiterated her vow to crush the Abu Sayyaf extremist group that has been engaged in mass abductions for ransom.

Zamboanga City police director Superintendent Mario Yanga identified the arrested suspect as Karim Hassan, alias Karim Kiram Taraji, a bodyguard of Abu Sayyaf leader Khadaffy Janjalani.

Hassan was tagged as among Abu Sayyaf gunmen who raided two Catholic schools in Sumisip town last year where scores of students, teachers and priests were abducted and used as human shields.

Police intelligence sources said Hassan was videotaped by a local television network carrying a recoilless rifle in the jungles of Basilan while the Abu Sayyaf terrorists were still holding the teachers and students.

Yanga said Hassan, 26, was eating lunch when spotted by alert citizens who immediately tipped off the police.

"This fellow has been the subject of our manhunt. He is in the order of battle following his involvement in the mass abduction of 21 teachers and students in Barangay Tumahubong in Sumisip town," Yanga said.

Hassan became the third Abu Sayyaf member to fall into military-police dragnets as a parallel government effort to the ongoing all-out war against the extremist rebel group launched late last month.

Allaying fears of a possible witchhunt that might affect innocent civilians because of the bounty offered by the government, Yanga said policemen and soldiers were furnished with a watch-list of the Abu Sayyaf terrorists wanted by the law.

"We have the list of the Abu Sayyaf members in the order of battle, including their aliases," Yanga said.

He said the Abu Sayyaf must be making a mistake in thinking that they can hide from pursuing troops in Zamboanga City.

Meanwhile, troops from the Army’s elite Scout Rangers recovered three bodies of Abu Sayyaf bandits slain in recent encounters in Masola village near Basilan’s capital, Isabela City.

The military said the corpses were apparently left behind by the comrades fleeing the battle with the troops in Sitio Fuente Egas.

Lt. Col. Danilo Servando, spokesman for the Armed Forces’ Southern Command based in Zamboanga City, said the bodies were dumped in the bushes.

Maj. Alberto Gepilano, spokesman for Task Force Comet carrying out the rescue operations for the Abu Sayyaf hostages in Basilan, said the troops remained within striking distance. "We are expecting more clashes," Gepilano said.

Fresh supplies were airlifted to the troops at the battlefront, and the aircraft brought back Abu Sayyaf weapons retrieved from the site of the gunbattles, including a bolo believed used to behead some of the hostages.

At least four hostages have been decapitated. The Abu Sayyaf also claimed they have chopped off the head of American captive Guillermo Sobero, 40, of California, although his remains have not been found.

Another soldier found a shotgun at the scene of Sunday’s clash. "It still works, but there are no bullets," he said.

As the hostage crisis entered its second month, the military said the troops were pressing the initiative on the enemy, but the bandits were avoiding them.

"The enemy does not want to fight. They are always on the run. After a brief engagement, they flee," Gepilano said.

While officials said their operations were on track, the troops were encountering only the "perimeter guards" of the main Abu Sayyaf force believed holed out at the Sampinit complex of mountain ranges in central Basilan.

Two truckloads of Army soldiers from the 1st Infantry Battalion arrived yesterday at a seaside base in Isabela for a rest.

GMA foresees results soon

The President said the ongoing military offensive against the Abu Sayyaf, who are holding some two dozen hostages in the island province of Basilan, would produce results soon.

On the other hand, a new anti-crime superbody created recently has launched a crackdown against urban kidnappings.

"We are determined to step up action against violent crime in the country, especially kidnappings," Mrs. Arroyo said in a video-linked address from Manila to the World Economic Development Congress in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Mrs. Arroyo pointed out that the Abu Sayyaf threat has been confined to Basilan and two other islands in southern Philippines, and assured businessmen that the rest of the country is "safe and secure."

"Unfortunately, due to the tendency of the media to focus on the kidnappings, there is a misconception that the entire country is under threat," Mrs. Arroyo said. "We will not let the hostage drama paralyze the nation."

On the war against urban kidnappings which have terrorized the Filipino-Chinese community, the President said the government has smashed several gangs in recent weeks and expected to nab more kidnappers who have netted lucrative ransoms by abducting prominent businessmen.

Meanwhile, a Muslim expert warned the Arroyo government that Islamic fundamentalism would stay in the country, and crushing the Abu Sayyaf would merely provide a respite before an equally vicious fanatic group replaces it.

University of the Philippines assistant professor for Islamic Studies Julkipli Wadi blamed the administration of former President Joseph Estrada for the current peace and order problem in Mindanao, saying the all-out war against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) would only serve to inflame separatist sentiments in the South.

Wadi said the government should formulate a national policy on how to deal with the civil strife in Mindanao, and sustain the "peace momentum" by fast-tracking the peace negotiations.

Wadi said prior to Estrada’s all-out war against the MILF, the government was already on the right track when it forged a peace agreement with the mainstream Moro National Liberation Front, and was well on its way to signing a similar pact with the MILF.

With the MILF and the MNLF neutralized, it would have been easier to stamp out the Abu Sayyaf, Wadi said. – With Jose Aravilla