A war against terror fought by the locals people for the local people, not something that the US needs to fight as it is doing in Iraq.
Big blow to Abu Sayyaf with capture of top leader in Philippines
(AFP)
8 December 2003
JOLO, Philippines - The Al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf kidnap group in the southern Philippines has been dealt a severe blow with the capture of their top leader in a military operation, officials said Monday.
Philippine military chief General Narciso Abaya said the military nabbedGalib Andang, popularly known as Commander Robot, after a gun battle in southern Jolo island late Sunday just as he was planning another abduction.
“Galib Andang was planning another kidnapping in Jolo. With our speedy intelligence information, we learned what he was planning and we prevented what could have been another problem,” Abaya said, without elaborating.
Andang, who was wounded in the leg in the gun battle, is to be transported to Manila where he would be presented to President Gloria Arroyo, who has vowed to destroy the Abu Sayyaf with help from the United States.
Arroyo said Andang’s capture, through a public tip-off, was a ”significant victory” over the Abu Sayyaf, according to her spokesman Ignacio Bunye.
“This is a big step in our fight against terrorism and a big step in the international fight against terror,” said Abaya, who flew to the south to be briefed on the ongoing military operations against the kidnapping gang.
The Abu Sayyaf is a group of Islamic militants branded as terrorists by Washington and Manila and said to have links with the Al Qaeda network of terror mastermind Osama bin Laden. The group is feared for its kidnapping sprees and bomb attacks against foreigners and Christians carried out in the southern Philippines for more than a decade. They often behead their victims if their ransom demands are not met.
Andang was part of a band of Abu Sayyaf members who raided neighbouring Malaysian resorts in Sipadan island in April, 2000, seizing 21 hostages, including Europeans.
Most of the hostages were released in batches over several months, allegedly in exchange for huge ransoms.
Jolo military commander Colonel Alexander Yapching said that Andang was nabbed in the town of Indanan after being wounded in the gunbattle. He is undergoing treatment at a military camp.
Hufin Hajan, district chief of the area where Andang was captured, said a white van and several other military vehicles swooped down on a house in Indanan late Sunday.
Several shots were fired from a .45 caliber pistol and an M79 grenade launcher and then a man believed to be Andang was rushed away in the van, Hajan said.
Andang had a five-million-peso (90,000-dollar) bounty on his head.
Abaya said troops would now intensify their hunt for the remaining Abu Sayyaf leaders: Khadaffy Janjalani, Radulan Sahiron, Abu Sulaiman and Hamsiraji Sali. All have been implicated in kidnappings and murders of foreigners and Filipinos in recent years.
Military spokesman Colonel Daniel Lucero said in Manila that Andang would hopefully yield information on the links between the Abu Sayyaf and Al Qaeda-linked regional Islamic militant group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI).
“With the capture of Galib Andang, hopefully he will reveal to us, their links with the Jemaah Islamiyah in the region and the other plans of the Abu Sayyaf in spreading terrorism,” Lucero said.
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