ZAMBOANGA CITY – Indonesia has said it attempted to rescue ten of its citizens kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf in southern Philippines, but details of the operations were not made public.
Indonesian media said Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi has met with President Joko Widodo to present a report on the development of attempts made to free the Indonesian sailors. “I reported to the President about the attempt to liberate 10 ship crews and results from visits to Manila,” Retno was quoted by Tempco as saying.
Retno has declined to provide information about the rescue attempts, but said Jakarta continues to coordinate with the Philippines to free the hostages. “The safety of the ship crews is the main priority of all currently available options,” Retno said.
The boat was heading to Batangas province in Luzon in the Philippines gunmen intercepted them near Languyan Island on March 26. The kidnappers demanded P50 million ransoms for the safe release of the hostages.
Indonesia has earlier said that it is ready to send police commandos to the Philippines to rescue the hostages, who are being by Alhabsi Misaya, a notorious Abu Sayyaf leader tagged as behind the spate of terrorism and kidnappings in the restive Muslim autonomous region in Mindanao.
Just recently, a group of gunmen, believed to be Abu Sayyaf rebels, also seized 4 Malaysian seamen off Sabah’s Semporna district after intercepting their tugboat MasFive 6 near Ligitan Island.
The abducted sailors have been identified as Wong Hung Song, 44, Wong Teck Pang, 41, Wong Teck Chi, 39, and Johnny Lau Jung Hien, 21 – all from Sarawak in the oil-rich state of Sabah.
Five other sailors – Two Indonesians and three Burmese – were left behind in the boat and reported the attack on Malaysian authorities. The tugboat was heading to the coastal town of Tawau in Sabah – after delivering timber in the Philippines – when gunmen raided the vessel.
The Abu Sayyaf, whose group is coddling Malaysian and Indonesian militants in southern Philippines, has pledged allegiance with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, and fighting for a caliphate in the troubled region where security forces are also battling communist insurgency. (Mindanao Examiner)
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