Sayyaf executes 5 of 6 Sabah hostages; Robot back?

ZAMBOANGA CITY — Five of six people snatched Oct. 5 in Sabah by an Abu Sayyaf faction believed led by Ghalib Andang, alias Commander Robot, were killed Monday night in an island in Tawi-Tawi after their relatives failed to pay ransom.

The sixth captive, Indonesian Nonoy Alkusil ran for his life while the kidnappers were shooting down the other hostages, which included his parents. "All of us were to be killed because our relatives could not pay them ransom," Alkusil told dxGD in halting English.

However, the Indonesian embassy in Manila said Alkusil is not an Indonesian and is verifying his nationality.

Speaking through an interpreter, the 19-year-old Alkusil said they were told by their captors — whom he identified as Abu Sayyaf Islamist rebels — to undress and run near the seashore in Barangay Buan, Panglima Sugala town Tawi-Tawi Monday night. The kidnappers then fired at them as they ran, killing five, he added.

Alkusil said he survived by running as fast as he could as the bandits fired away on their second night in Barangay Buan, where they were brought after being transferred from one motorboat to another. Two of the slain kidnap victims were his parents, he added.

Andang led the kidnapping of 21 people — a number of them Western tourists — on Sipadan island on Easter Sunday 2000. The hostages were taken to the jungles of Jolo and released in batches after the reported payment of huge sums of ransom.

Andang’s lieutenant in that kidnapping, Mujib Susukan, has since been killed by soldiers tracking down the bandits.

Lt. Gen. Roy Kyamko, Armed Forces Southern Command chief, said Alkusil was spotted by civilians who took him to the Languyan town police. "Alkusil took advantage of the situation and reached Barangay Maraning, Languyan town where he was recovered," he said.

No immediate information has yet been received as to why the kidnappers killed the hostages, he added.

Languyan police chief Senior Inspector Carlito Yantada said Alkusil was first spotted running naked by Tausug and Samal residents in a seaside barangay in Languyan. The bullet-riddled bodies of the five slain kidnap victims were found in Barangay Maraning in Languyan, he added.

Yantada said over Catholic radio station dxGD in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi that three hooded gunmen chasing Alkusil retreated after they saw armed villagers.

Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao police commander Chief Superintendent Acmad Omar said Alkusil told investigators that two of those killed were Indonesians and the three others were Malaysians. "When our men withdrew from the area because of the intense firefight, he told our men apparently his companions were killed," he said.

Languyan is the hometown of Tawi-Tawi Gov. Rashidin Matba.

Sources in Tawi-Tawi and Sulu said the captives were first taken to a coastal town in Sulu, but later transferred to Languyan more than a week ago, right after some of their relatives started negotiating for their release. "The negotiations bogged down because the families of the captives could not afford the $5 million the Abu Sayyaf kidnappers had asked in exchange for the release of each of the captives," said a prominent Tausug-Chinese trader in Jolo.

On the other hand, a senior ARMM education official said rumors circulated two days before the killing that the Abu Sayyaf had decided to transfer the captives to Languyan, which is nearer to Malaysia so it would be easy to free them after their families have paid ransom.

Alkusil will be flown today to Zamboanga City where he will be given medical attention and undergo tactical debriefing.

Malaysia earlier said it would not pay a 10 million ringgit ($2.63 million) ransom demanded by kidnappers.

Ten gunmen using a speedboat stormed the Borneo Paradise Resort in Sabah on Oct. 5 in a remote jungle region on Borneo island, near the borders with Indonesia and the Philippines, and kidnapped three Indonesians and three employees initially identified as Filipino. — With reports from John Unson, Christina Mendez, Jaime Laude, Marvin Sy, AP