RP to try Sayyaf leaders if caught here

The Philippines would try five alleged leaders of the brutal Abu Sayyaf group if it catches them, even though they have been indicted by the United States on kidnapping and murder charges, a justice department official said yesterday.

The United States announced the indictments against the men yesterday for a kidnapping spree that led to the death of an American missionary and 19 others in the Philippines.

Justice Undersecretary Manuel Teehankee said the men face similar charges in the Philippines and their trial here "will take precedence" if an ongoing military pursuit finds them.

Teehankee said the Philippines and the United States are closely cooperating to apprehend the Abu Sayyaf leaders as part of the global manhunt of suspected terrorists. The Americans say the Muslim separatist group has ties to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda terror network.

Teehankee said terrorist leaders pose a threat wherever in the world they may be. "In the global fight against terrorism," he said, "we apprehend them wherever they may be found."

In Washington, US Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson said the indictments were a "signal" from the United States.

"We will work to track down and prosecute all those who commit barbaric acts of terrorism here at home and abroad," he said.

The federal indictments identified the five Abu Sayyaf leaders as Khadafi Abubakar Janjalani, spiritual leader of the group; Isnilon Totoni Hapilon, the second in command; Aldam Tilao, spokesman; Jainal Antel Sali Jr., an intelligence officer; and Hamsiraji Marusi Sali, a group leader.

The men are charged with conspiracy resulting in death, hostage-taking and three counts of hostage-taking resulting in death.

Tilao, also known as Abu Sabaya, was believed killed in a gunbattle at sea last month. His body has not been found. The four others are targets of a US-backed military pursuit.

The United States deployed around 1,000 Green Berets, military engineers and support personnel for a six-month counterterrorism exercise designed to help the Philippine military wipe out the Abu Sayyaf in the first extension of the US-led war on terrorism outside Afghanistan. The exercise ends next Wednesday, but more training is scheduled to start in October.

The Abu Sayyaf began a kidnapping spree in May 2001, seizing 102 people overall, including three Americans - missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham of Wichita, Kansas, and Guillermo Sobero of Corona, California.

Sobero was beheaded less than a month after he was abducted along with the Burnhams and 17 Filipinos from an island resort. Some of the other hostages also were killed, others escaped and the rest were freed, reportedly for large ransoms.

On June 7, Filipino soldiers rescued Gracia Burnham, but her husband and Filipino nurse Edibora Yap were killed.