KIDNAPPED Sydney adventurer Warren Rodwell is being held by a commander of the terrorist Abu Sayyaf group who is notorious for beheading his Christian victims, the Philippine military said.
The man, Puruji Indama, has been blamed for numerous kidnappings-for-ransom and terrorist attacks in the Philippines.
”We have confirmation that Warren Rodwell is being held by the group of Abu Sayyaf leader Puruji Indama,” Colonel Ricardo Visaya, commander of the 104th Infantry Brigade, told the Herald. ”We have stepped up efforts to locate Rodwell and his captors.’
The military said last week it was believed that Mr Rodwell was kidnapped by a local gang with links to the Abu Sayyaf in the Muslim province of Basilan in the restive southern Philippines.
Police said they also suspected Barahama Ali, a commander of the larger rebel group Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which is negotiating peace with Manila, could be responsible.
Colonel Visaya said it was not known if the two groups had merged or if Mr Rodwell was ”sold” or handed over to the Abu Sayyaf. ”We still don’t know whether the groups of Ali and Indama have merged or not, but Rodwell is now in the hands of Indama,” he said.
Nineteen Philippine special forces soldiers hunting Indama and members of his terrorist cell were killed during a 10-hour confrontation in mid-October.
Six of the captured soldiers were hacked to death in a village on Basilan Island where 14 Philippine marines were beheaded four years ago.
Mr Rodwell, 53, was kidnapped by four men posing as policemen from a house he bought in a village near the coastal town of Ipil on Mindanao on December 5.
He struggled with the men and was shot in the foot before being dragged away.
People claiming to be kidnappers have contacted the governor’s office in the provincial capital, Zamboanga City, indicating they want to negotiate a ransom for Mr Rodwell’s release.
Australian officials in Zamboanga City have insisted that a professional police negotiator handle any negotiations.
Mr Rodwell was sighted last week on Basilan Island, four hours by boat from where he was kidnapped. The island is a stronghold for the Abu Sayyaf and criminal gangs linked to the group that is on a US list of terrorist organisations.
The Abu Sayyaf is blamed for the Philippines’ worst attacks, including the bombing of a passenger ferry on Manila Bay that killed more than 400 people in 2004.
The group has also been blamed for numerous bombings, beheadings and kidnappers of Filipinos and foreigners.
Authorities have identified Indama as behind the kidnapping of an American, Gerfa Lunsmann, and her son Kevin Eric, and a Filipino relative, in July in Zamboanga City.
The three were released separately after the woman’s husband, Heiko Lunsmann, paid a ransom.
The Abu Sayyaf, which has diminished in strength in recent years, has been linked to al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiya.
The group is believed to be holding an Indian, two Malaysians and a Japanese man.(Lindsay Murdoch, Al Jacinto / Sydney Morning Herald, The Age)
Link:http://www.smh.com.au/national/kidnapped-australian-in-hands-of-commander-linked-to-beheadings-20111218-1p0ve.html
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