In a related development, President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino apologised for the beheading of a Malaysian national as he ordered the military to intensify its ongoing operations against the Abu Sayyaf and arrest the killers.
The military has confirmed the beheading of Bernard Then, one of the two Malaysian nationals abducted by the Abu Sayyaf from a restaurant in Sabah in May, which was condemned by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak as “dastardly and barbaric.”
Aquino issued the apology in Kuala Lumpur to attend the annual summit of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) where the war on terrorism was one of the major topics in its agenda.
Meanwhile, Navy Captain Roy Vincent Trinidad identified the slain Abu Sayyaf leader as a certain Said allegedly involved in the kidnap-for-ransom of Malaysian nationals from Sabah including the beheaded Then.
The encounter, Trinidad said, occurred on Friday in a remote village in the town of Sitangkai, Tawi-Tawi while elite Navy commandos were conducting operations against the Abu Sayyaf, recently declared as a local “terror group” by a Mindanao regional court.
He added Said and his cohorts were also involved in the hostage-taking of 21 tourists in Sipadan, Sabah in 2001, who were brought to Sulu in Mindanao before being released in batches after payment of huge ransoms mainly in the US dollar currency. At the same time, police announced the arrest of another Abu Sayyaf leader, identified as a Mhadie Umangkat Sahirin wanted by the courts for the non-bailable charges of murder and frustrated murder.
Police said Sahirin was arrested on Friday while walking by a roadside in a village in Zamboanga City where he fled following the filing before the regional courts separate charges of carnapping, bombings and burning of government construction equipment on the island province of Mindanao.
Regional and Filipino security experts have confirmed the link of the Abu Sayyaf to the global Al Qaeda terror network through the Indonesia-based Jemaah Islamiyah militants.
By Manolo B. Jara
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