Hostages safe following gunfight
Sunday, 3 Mar 2019
by muguntan vanar
KOTA KINABALU: A Malaysian and two Indonesians held by Abu Sayyaf gunmen are safe after the militants trying to escape from Jolo island were caught in a gunfight with the Philippine military earlier this week.
It is learnt that the militant group with the three hostages, who were snatched from eastern Sabah waters on Dec 5 last year, were trying to flee Jolo when the military closed in on the group on Simisa island, off Jolo, on Wednesday.
Soldiers managed to capture a militant couple and killed an Abu Sayyaf member during the fight at Simisa.
However, the Abu Sayyaf gunmen led by the notorious kidnapper Salip Mura managed to slip back to their hideout in Jolo.
The three hostages are unharmed, and the gunmen have brought the hostages back to their hideout in the Panamao area (Jolo), a regional intelligence source said.
The three fishermen – Malaysian Jari Abdullah, 24, and Indonesians Heri Ardiansyah, 19, and Hariadin, 45 – were snatched from their fishing trawler in the Kinabatangan side of the Pegasus Reefs that borders southern Philippines.
The gunmen have been getting desperate as they have not been able to draw either the Indonesians or Malaysians into negotiations for the release of the three amid outrageous ransom demands running into millions of pesos.
Last month, a brief video of an Abu Sayyaf gunman holding a knife against the neck of one of the Indonesian hostages who is seen pleading for his president and also a negotiator to assist in securing their release.
The emergence of the video on Feb 14 came after Jaris’ wife Nadin Junianti Abdullah was contacted by a suspected Abu Sayyaf member by telephone at about 7pm on Feb 11, deman ding for Malaysian authorities to contact them to secure her husband’s release.
In their attempt to flee Jolo, Filipino intelligence sources said the fighting in Simisa between an Abu Sayyaf group of about 15 gunmen led by Salip ended with the death of a militant and the arrest of the couple.
The woman was identified as Nurlinda Sulaiman and her husband, Abdu Mohammad.
Read more at https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2019/03/03/hostages-safe-following-gunfight-abu-sayyaf-gunmen-bring-them-back-to-jolo/#AL73e1Qig4ROp8Gp.99
