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Sri Lankan hostage is now in the hands of Abu Sayyaf

by danesller0127 | February 15, 2009 at 01:51 pm

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A Sri Lankan peace activist abducted in the troubled southern Philippinnes is now in the hands of Abu Sayyaf rebels, police sain on Sunday.

Umar Jaleel, a 34-year old and member of the Nonviolent Peaceforce, has been turned over by his captors to Abu Sayyaf under a Furiigi Indama in Basilan, said Benzali Jabarani, a local police commander.

"There's no ransom demand yet from the kidnapers. Our policemen are coordinating with the soldiers on the ground," Jabarani said.

Jaleel, 36, was deployed by his Brussels-based nonpartisan group, the Nonviolent Peaceforce, to the Philippines' southern Mindanao region last year to help foster peace talks between the government and Muslim guerrillas.

He was abducted from his residence, which also serves as his office. A Filipino caretaker managed to escape unharmed as the kidnappers opened fire. The gunmen took a laptop computer, four cell phones and cash, Macapantar said.

The Abu Sayyaf have also been blamed for the abduction of three teachers, a loan company employee and a child on Basilan in a rash of kidnappings believed to have been carried out to raise badly needed funds after the group lost most connections to foreign financiers when many of its commanders were killed in U.S.-backed offensives.

On nearby Jolo Island, marines have eased efforts to rescue kidnapped Red Cross workers Andreas Notter of Switzerland, Eugenio Vagni of Italy and Mary Jean Lacaba of the Philippines to allow officials to negotiate their release from their Abu Sayyaf captors, military spokesman Brig. Gen. Gaudencio Pangilinan said.

Marines clashed with the Abu Sayyaf kidnappers last week, sparking concerns over the safety of the Red Cross workers, who were seized Jan. 15 after inspecting a water project. The clash wounded nine marines and an unspecified numbers of militants but the hostages were not hurt, the military said.

The Abu Sayyaf, which has more than 300 fighters, is on a U.S. blacklist of terrorist organizations for its al-Qaida links and involvement in bombings, kidnappings and beheadings

Foreign Christian missionaries serving in the conflict-ridden island of Mindanao in the Philippines are to be guarded by armed soldiers as the threat of kidnapping for ransom by Islamic radicals rises.

Senior Superintendent Fransisco Cristobal said that soldiers will be deployed "within shooting range" of churches and convents in mainland Mindanao and in the small islets that surround it.

"We are now initiating safety precautions to protect our local and foreign missionaries, including troop deployment plans near parishes and churches," Cristobal said in a report on 'Mindanews.'

Abu Sayyaf is listed as a terror organization by the United States, Europe and the Philippines.

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danesller0127

at 15:13 on February 15th, 2009

Military reports said Umar Jaleel was taken by nine gunmen early Friday morning from his rented home-office in Barangay (Village) Maloong at around 2 a.m. The Filipino caretaker of the house, Gil Tura, managed to escape the abduction.

His abductors also took Jaleel's valuables, including cellular phones.

Jaleel's abduction came almost a month after the kidnapping of International Committee of the Red Cross workers, Swiss Andreas Notter, Italian Eugenio Vagni and Filipino Mary Jean Lacaba, in Jolo, Sulu.

"We need all the help that we can get and this support may come in the form of a law or bill," he said in an interview with reporters. (source: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/)

Paschen

at 16:38 on February 15th, 2009

Hum, I wonder when this madness will stop, or will it ever?

danesller0127

at 07:56 on February 16th, 2009

Yes indeed! Pachen' i agree on that... This group is un-predictable! we cannot predict... What i know now Abu Sayyaf, this time would be different... The ASG said they will not demand ransom money... and vowed to continue fighting for the rights of the country's muslim minority, ASG Commander, Albader Parad, told reporters.

Authorities have tagged the Abu Sayyaf as behind the spate of kidnappings, bomb attacks an beheadings accross Mindanao.( source: ABS-CBN Bandila)

Babel-Fish

at 23:48 on February 15th, 2009

"has been turned over by his captors to Abu Sayyaf under a Furiigi Indama in Basilan"

I nor my Filipina partner have no idea what a 'Furigi Indama' means its not Tagalog (Pilipino)?

Does this mean local crooks handed their captor over to the Abu Sayyaf?

I would not be surprised if they release the guy soon as its a none fact that there will not be a ransom paid the guy comes from a poverty ridden country and Nonviolent Peace force has a policy not to pay.

danesller0127

at 08:47 on February 16th, 2009

Hi there! Babel' just came from my work... Yes indeed! Umar Jaleel, a 34-year old Sri Lankan and member of the NonViolent, has turned over by his captors to Abu Sayyaf bandits led by commander Furiigi Indama in Basilan... I didn't heared that before, this sound new also to me... What i know is Abu Sayyaf group linked to the Al Qaeda and composed of different commanders, with some 380 members blamed for a series of kidnappings and terror attacks in the country, of most radical and most violent organized Islamic group in the philippines...

A local imformant said, it maybe not only hundreds, but thousands of militants...

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The military said abducted Sri Lankan peace worker Umar Jaleel and his kidnappers were still in Basilan province as of Sunday.

"We are receiving reliable reports as to their whereabouts and we are certain that they are still in Basilan," Lieutenant Colonel Edgard Arevalo, Navy spokesman, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net).