Gracia: Solaiman was filled with hate

Abu Solaiman now faces God’s judgment, Gracia Burnham, one of the Americans taken hostage by the Abu Sayyaf at the Dos Palmas Resort in Palawan in 2001, said in a statement Wednesday.

"Based on the six months I had close contact with Solaiman during our year of captivity, I would say that he was the most dangerous of the Abu Sayyaf leaders because he was filled with hate," Burnham said.

Burnham and her husband, Martin, both Christian missionaries, were held for more than a year by the terrorist group. She was wounded and her husband died in the rescue effort that freed her. Another American hostage, Guillermo Sobero, was beheaded.

The Burnhams were celebrating a wedding anniversary in Dos Palmas when the bandits struck, taking them and other tourists at the resort hostage.

Solaiman, 41, whose real name is Jainal Antel Sali Jr., left a legacy of lethal attacks and kidnappings in the Philippines, putting him on Philippine and US most-wanted lists.

He had also claimed responsibility for a 2004 bombing of the SuperFerry 14. The blast and the resulting fire killed 116 people in one of Southeast Asia’s worst terror attacks since the Bali bombings in 2002.

The kidnappings prompted Philippine authorities to allow the deployment of US troops in the southern Mindanao region to train and arm Filipino soldiers working to wipe out the Abu Sayyaf. The US had also offered up to $5 million for his capture and killing.

US-backed Philippine troops cornered Solaiman and other rebel leaders Tuesday in a Jolo hideout. He died in the ensuing gunbattle.

"We are resolved to work with our strategic allies in the region, and with the United States, to tighten the dragnet and stop the movement of terrorists, their finances and their deadly material across the seas and borders," President Arroyo said at a meeting with US Ambassador Kristie Kenney and military and defense officials.

"This government is determined to finish the job with a hand of steel against evil," she added. – AP