Four Alleged Abu Sayyaf Members Caught in PhilippinesAuthorities over the weekend arrested four alleged members of the Abu Sayyaf group which is still holding over 20 hostages in the southern Philippines, the military and radio reports said Saturday.Security forces nabbed an alleged member of the rebel group in Manila Saturday and seized from his possession some weapons, military fatigue uniforms and various identification cards, radio dzMM reported. Police were earlier alerted on intelligence reports that the bandit group planned to bomb key areas in the capital area. Meanwhile, the military said Marine troops captured three Abu Sayyaf members and seized high-powered firearms during a raid in Panamao town in the southern province of Sulu on Friday. Sulu lies south of the island province of Basilan where thousands of government soldiers are still in hot pursuit of the Abu Sayyaf bandits who have at least 21 hostages in their hands, including an American couple. The bandits first kidnapped 20 people, including three Americans, at a resort in the western province of Palawan on May 27, and later seized another 19 people in Basilan while on the run from the military. Thirteen Filipino hostages have escaped or been released allegedly after ransom was paid by their families, while four others have been killed by their captors. The bandits also claimed to have beheaded American hostage Guillermo Sobero, but his body has not been found yet. In another development, the Justice Department said Saturday it is conducting "close monitoring" of any activity that can be linked to a latest intelligence report that Abu Sayyaf bandits were financed by Saudi billionaire terrorist Osama Bin Laden to deploy bomb experts and suicide bombers in Metro Manila and to assassinate President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. National Security Adviser Roilo Golez told reporters that the government is coordinating with "various intelligence agencies worldwide" to substantiate an intelligence report claim that Bin Laden will come to the Philippines as he reportedly called upon all Muslim mujahedeen, or religious warriors, to step up their jihad or holy war against the United States and Israel. |
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