12 Abu rebs captured: But still no signs of 2 hostages

ZAMBOANGA CITY — Government troops captured 12 members of the Muslim extremist group Abu Sayyaf after a battle in the jungles of Sulu, where the rebels are thought to be holding two remaining hostages, the military said yesterday.

Soldiers were conducting clearing operations in a remote village in Talipao town when they encountered a group of heavily armed Abu Sayyaf bandits on Saturday, said Lt. Gen. Gregorio Camiling, chief of the Armed Forces Southern Command.

"The firefight lasted for 10 minutes and since the enemy was caught off guard, they were forced to surrender," he said.

However, there was no trace of the Abu Sayyaf’s two remaining hostages –American Jeffrey Schilling and Filipino dive master Roland Ullah.

Camiling said Army Scout Rangers from the 2nd Battalion had penetrated the first line of defense of the Abu Sayyaf’s jungle hideout in Barangay Kabatuan in Talipao.

"We are on track and (have the) upper hand as we develop further on the situation (to get to the main bulk of the Abu Sayyaf)," he said of the latest operation which was described as a major breakthrough against the renegade band that went on a kidnapping spree last year.

Camiling said the 12 captured bandits are undergoing "tactical interrogation" at an Army base in Jolo to find out more information about Schilling and Ullah.

Schilling is an Islam convert who walked into the rebel lair last August, while Ullah is the last remaining hostage out of 21 snatched in the Malaysian resort island of Sipadan off Sabah on Easter Sunday last year.

Camiling said one of those captured had been wounded, and that troops seized a number of automatic rifles from the bandits after they had surrendered. The wounded bandit was identified as Ambre Adan.

"They were caught flat-footed by our forces," he said.

Army troopers in the area recovered two M-16 rifles, an M-14 rifle and two caliber .30 Garand rifles, reports reaching Camp Aguinaldo said.

Camiling said President Arroyo had personally called him up to say that she was happy with the latest military operation against the Abu Sayyaf.

"Her instruction was very precise," he said. "If we can recover the hostage so much the better, but her instruction here is that the ultimate goal is to annihilate the Abu Sayyaf."

Camiling said troops will continue pursuing the bandits in search of the location of their main forces in Sulu with the objective of pinpointing the whereabouts of Schilling.

"There is no time frame in this kind of operation because we are conducting against a moving target and not a terrain," he said.

Camiling said Scout Rangers were also used to clear the Narciso Ramos Highway in Maguindanao last year of Moro Islamic Liberation Front guerrillas, who were extorting money from motorists.

Last week, Mrs. Arroyo ordered the military to "annihilate" the Abu Sayyaf after the bandits threatened to behead Schilling to mark her 54th birthday last Thursday.

In a statement yesterday, Mrs. Arroyo said the government was doing its best to safely recover Schilling, who was snatched in August last year when he visited the Abu Sayyaf hideout together with his wife, who is a cousin of bandit spokesman Abu Sabaya.

"We consider that one of the successes of the mission is the safe return of Schilling and Roland Ullah," read the statement. — With reports from Christina Mendez, Paolo Romero