Imam Intong Amelul, alias Isnain Intong Amelul, is believed to be a key aide of Hamsiraji Salih, one of five Abu Sayyaf commanders sought by the US government for the kidnapping and murder of American Guillermo Sobero last year.
Lt. Col. Daniel Lucero, spokesman for the Armed Forces Southern Command (Southcom), said military investigators are still trying to find out the mission of Amelul, who could have come to Zamboanga City to divert the military offensive against the Abu Sayyaf in the jungles of Basilan.
"In the initial interrogation, he admitted he was with Salih’s group when they laid siege to Lamitan," he said.
Southcom chief Lt. Gen. Narciso Abaya has ordered troops to continue without letup their offensive against the Abu Sayyaf so all their hostages could be freed.
Families of the seven remaining Abu Sayyaf hostages have not yet received any information from their relatives who have been in captivity for months.
But Abaya said that the three Indonesian seamen snatched in June, and four Filipino women members of Jehovah’s Witnesses taken in August are being held in a jungle hideout in Patikul, Sulu.
"We have no indication whether they are alive or not, neither are there reports that they have been killed," he said.
Abaya said based on the latest intelligence reports the seven hostages are being held by the group of one-armed Abu Sayyaf leader Radulan Sahiron.
However, Abaya could not ascertain whether the hostages are being held together in one place.
"I haven’t gotten a report on that," he said. "As far as our information goes they are still there in areas of Patikul being held by the group of Radulan (Sahiron)."
The seven hostages are: Indonesians Munto Jacobo, Winowatan, and Pieter Lerrich, and Filipinos Norrie Bendijo, Cleofe and Flora Montulo, and Emely Mantic.
Sahiron has demanded P16 million for the freedom of the hostages.
The ransom demand was coursed through the office of Sulu Gov. Yusop Jikiri, who rejected it.
On June 1 last year, the Abu Sayyaf laid siege to St. Peter’s Catholic Church and the Jose Torres Memorial Hospital, where they took many nurses hostage.
One of those hostages was Edibora Yap, who was killed last June, along with American missionary Martin Burnham during a military rescue operation in Zamboanga del Norte that freed Burnham’s wounded wife, Gracia. – Roel Pareño, AFP