ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / June 22, 2012) – Security forces here captured a former Muslim rebel commander and now sub-leader of the terrorist Abu Sayyaf group tagged as behind the kidnappings of dozens of students and teachers in Basilan province more than a decade ago, officials said Friday.
Officials said Alawi Pasihul, who is also senior member of the Moro National Liberation Front, was tracked down at a restaurant in Zamboanga City. Pasihul is being linked by authorities to the mass kidnappings that occurred in 2000 after militants stormed the Claret School in Lamitan City.
It was not immediately known whether Pasihul, who escaped military and police operation in Basilan, just several nautical miles south of Zamboanga City, was planning to kidnap or mount new attacks against civilian or government targets.
Col. Buenaventura Pascual, commander of an army anti-terrorism task force, said Pasihul is facing a string of criminal charges in his hometown in Basilan, one of five provinces under the Muslim autonomous region.
“He was also involved in rebellion in Zamboanga City in 2002 where their group took innocent civilians hostage. Pasihul was a follower of Abu Sayyaf founder Abdurajak Janjalani. He is now being interrogated by authorities,” Pascual told the Mindanao Examiner.
Pascual did not say if there were weapons seized from Pasihul or if he was alone when arrested in downtown Zamboanga on Thursday afternoon.
The Abu Sayyaf is the most notorious among the Philippine rebel groups and has been linked to al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiya. The group is also holding several foreigners, among them a Japanese treasure hunter, an Australian adventurer and two Chinese ore traders. (Mindanao Examiner)
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