Abu suspect in Lamitan siege nabbed in Basilan

Military agents have captured one of the Abu Sayyaf guerrillas who kidnapped three Americans in 2001, two of whom were later killed, the military announced yesterday.

Kamar Jaafar also allegedly participated in a mass kidnapping of students and teachers also in Basilan in 2000, Basilan military commander Col. Bonifacio Ramos said.

Jaafar was arrested last Thursday at a public market in Isabela, Basilan’s capital. He tried to flee when intelligence agents hunting him down spotted him in a billiard hall.

The military suspected that Jaafar was on a spy mission, Ramos said. "He has a string of arrest warrants issued by Basilan Judge Danilo Bucoy on cases ranging from kidnapping with serious illegal detention and multiple murder," Ramos said.

Jaafar’s arrest came a day after another Abu Sayyaf guerrilla, Undaing Sali, was nabbed by military agents in a village near the military’s Southern Command headquarters in Zamboanga City.

The Abu Sayyaf is a small group that styles itself as an Islamic rebel group fighting for an independent Muslim state in Mindanao but its activities are mostly kidnapping-for-ransom.

Western intelligence agencies have loosely linked the Abu Sayyaf to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda terrorist network and Indonesia-based al-Qaeda regional ally Jemaah Islamiyah.