Who were Kosovo, Global and Robot?

Last Monday’s jailbreak attempt is the latest in a series of embarrassing prison security lapses involving Islamic militants.

Had it succeeded, it would have dealt a serious blow to the government’s anti-terrorism credentials because the prison uprising’s three leaders were prime suspects in some of the Philippines’ worst terrorist attacks and kidnappings.

Abu Sayyaf leaders Ghalib Andang, Alhamser Limbong and Nadjmi Sabdula were among 22 prisoners killed when crack police forces stormed the prison to end the standoff.

Andang, better known by his alias Commander Robot, and Sabdula, alias Commander Global, were allegedly involved in a 2000 raid on a Malaysian island resort of Sipadan in which 21 Western and Asian hostages were snatched.

Sabdula was also behind a 2001 mass kidnapping of several tourists, including three Americans, from a Palawan resort, among other kidnappings.

Limbong, alias Commander Kosovo, was on trial for the Feb. 27, 2004 firebombing of a passenger ferry that claimed more than 100 lives – the country’s worst terrorist attack — as well as the 2001 Palawan kidnapping.

Two of three Americans in that Palawan raid were killed while in captivity. One of them was allegedly beheaded by Limbong.

A third American hostage, Christian missionary Gracia Burnham, was rescued by government troops in 2002.

Limbong was involved in a mass kidnapping of dozens of schoolchildren and teachers in Sumisip, Basilan, in 2000.

He was arrested last year along with five other Abu Sayyaf suspects who were allegedly planning a wave of bomb attacks on several civilian targets in Metro Manila.

One of them had a list of alleged bombing targets, including the US and Israeli embassies, malls, an oil depot near Malacañang, Manila’s airports, Congress, a power plant north of the capital, churches, passenger ships, hotels and television stations.

Another suspect, Redendo Dellosa, allegedly confessed that he had actually smuggled aboard the bomb that sank the passenger ferry.

In 2001, pursuing troops found a video tape in an abandoned Abu Sayyaf jungle hideout in Basilan. It showed Guillermo Sobero, one of the three Americans snatched from the Palawan resort, being beheaded by a man who closely resembled Limbong.

Most of the Abu Sayyaf’s kidnappings — including the Sipadan and Palawan raids — were allegedly planned by Sabdula.

He had a P5-million bounty on his head and was considered by security officials to be the Abu Sayyaf’s mastermind.

Sabdula was arrested in 2002 along with two other Abu Sayyaf members in General Santos City.

Sabdula was also believed to be the brains behind the 1994 raid on the town of Ipil, Zamboanga del Sur, the Abu Sayyaf’s first major attack that put them in the headlines. Fifty-seven people were killed.

Police and military sources say Sabdula had contacts with Indonesian Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi, an alleged bomb maker of Jemaah Islamiyah, the Southeast Asian arm of the al-Qaeda terrorist network.

In July 2003, Al-Ghozi escaped undetected from a Camp Crame cell, bringing huge embarrassment to the government. He was killed in a shootout with troops in North Cotabato a few months later that year.

Among the three prison uprising leaders, Andang is one of the better known Abu Sayyaf figures because of the Sipadan abductions.

But he was not originally in the Abu Sayyaf’s roster. He only made it into the ranks because of the size of his bandit group.

Even before Andang reached the peak of his infamy, he was already known as Robot because he loved to dance the strut, a robotic dance popular in the early 1980s.

Andang started as a janitor at the Sulu capitol during his younger years. He later became one the most sought-after bodyguards of Sulu politicians and warlords in the 1980s because of his tough-guy reputation.

But he did not keep his job because he sold guns that were issued to him. He later had to flee to the mountains and hide from his former masters for selling the guns.

Andang was captured by troops in a December 2003 clash, in which he was wounded in both legs. One leg was later amputated.

The deaths of Andang, Limbong and Sabdula have whittled down the number of key Abu Sayyaf figures left for security forces to hunt down — among them, Khaddafy Janjalani, Radulan Sahiron and Jainal Sali, alias Abu Solaiman.

Sali was in telephone contact with the prison uprising’s three leaders, according to state prosecutor Leo Dacera.

Last month, Sali went on the radio claiming responsibility for the Valentine’s Day bombings that killed 13 people and wounded over 100 in the cities of Davao, General Santos and Makati.

"We will find any means to inflict more harm to your people’s lives and properties, Allah willing," he said in a statement read over the telephone.

"We will not stop until we get justice for the countless Muslim lives and properties that your people have destroyed. May the almighty Allah punish your nation again through our hands." — With AFP