GREEN BERETS, LRC EQUIPPED TO RESCUE BURNHAMS

ZAMBOANGA CITY, PHILIPPINES (ANS) -- About 600 US green berets and 60 soldiers of the Light Reaction Company finished an extensive training and are set to lead in the rescue operation of American missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham under the captivity of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG).

The ASG is a Moslem fundamentalist terrorist group operating in the Southern Philippines which the FBI confirmed has strong links with the Al Qa'ida network in Afghanistan.

Armed Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Roy Cimatu told reporters that the joint mission has prepared three bullets "two of which will be fired at the ASG rebels holding the Burnham couple and the third bullet will be for Abu Sabaya," the self styled ASG spokesperson who warned over a radio station in Zamboanga City that the Burhnam couple will be beheaded soon because of the failed negotiation of the government.

Mindanews service reported that each soldier of the LRC was given by the US P1 million worth of equipment ranging from M4 Cabine rifles, bulletproof vest and night vision gobbles

The Burnham couple could nowhere to be found since February despite US spy planes and sophisticated gadgets of the US military. The Burnhams will mark their first captivity on Monday May 27.

In January this year, 21-year-old Sheila Tabunyag, who was with the Burnham couple for several months under the ASG captive, told ASSIST News Service that the Burnhams are being pressured to embrace the Islam faith. Almost all of the Christian hostages of the ASG converted to Islam before they were freed unharmed including Tabunyag.

Col. Alexander Aleo, chief of the Army 103rd Brigade said that due to the military pressure in Basilan the Abu Sayyaf strength reduce from 1,000 to only about 40 men who are now holding the hostages including Filipino nurse Ediborah Yap.

Aleo said that the ASG enjoys the support of local villagers which make the military difficult to rescue the remaining hostages.

The Burnham couple was kidnapped along with 17 other holiday- makers at Dos Palmas Beach Resort in Puerto Princesa in May 27 last year including another American national Guillermo Sobero. Tabunyag said that Sobero was beheaded because his lifestyle was non-Islamic.

The business sector and the bankers association in Zamboanga City wanted the extension of US presence in Zamboanga. The US troops are expected to leave on July 15 this year as stipulated in the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA).

Noel Tarrazona, 26 and based in Zamboanga City Philippines, completed his bachelor's degree in Journalism at Ateneo University and his master's studies at Western Mindanao State University. Noel is also a freelance reporter in the Southern Philippines. He can be reached at pearltar@mailcity.com

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Hostages fine - Sabaya

By Roel Pareño

The Philippine Star 05/23/2002

An Abu Sayyaf leader claimed in a radio interview yesterday that their American hostages are in good condition, contradicting unconfirmed military reports that the two captives are ill.

Abu Sayyaf spokesman Aldam Tilao, better known as Abu Sabaya, also denied newspaper reports his men were fighting over ransom for the hostages they have held for almost a year.

Sabaya, however, declined to put any of the hostages on the air to prove his claim, said an official of dxRZ station of Radio Mindanao Network. "Not now, but they are in good condition," the official quoted Sabaya as saying.

Last Tuesday, the military reported that they received information from villagers in the hinterlands of Basilan that missionary Martin Burnham was seen being carried on a stretcher by his captors.

His wife Gracia was reported to be suffering from urinary tract infection and her condition was deteriorating. The Abu Sayyaf are holding a third hostage, Filipina nurse Deborah Yap.

Col. Alexander Aleo, commander of the Army’s 103rd Brigade, refused to give the location of the sighting because it might compromise the military’s ongoing manhunt for the Abu Sayyaf, adding they still have to verify the information about the Burnhams.

The military suspects that the three hostages are now being held by another Abu Sayyaf leader, Isnilon Hapilon.

Lt. Col. Danilo Servando, spokesman for the military’s Southern Command, said they believe that the hostages are still being held in the jungles of Basilan.

"They are still being held somewhere in Basilan and, reportedly, it is the group of Isnilon Hapilon that is holding the hostages," Servando said. "But I would like to emphasize that this information needs to be verified and has to be evaluated. These are the initial information that we got, but we still have to verify that. But definitely the group of Abu Sabaya is not holding the hostages."

At the same time, Sabaya denied the military’s claim that he is having a squabble with Hapilon and another Abu Sayyaf leader, Khaddafy Janjalani, over a division of spoils.

"All I can say is that the (military) has ran out of issues against us, so they created an issue," Sabaya said.

Hapilon and Janjalani are reportedly hunting down Sabaya, who, according to the military, did not give them their fair share of the ransom money raised for the release of the Burnhams.

"The rift was brought about by some issues wherein Sabaya hoodwinked the other leaders. This was the reason why the other leaders went against Sabaya," Servando said. "So right now, I think, the other members of the Abu Sayyaf group are running after Sabaya."

The Abu Sayyaf has been holding the Burnhams and Yap for almost a year now. The Burnhams were abducted from a tourist resort off Palawan on May 27 last year.

Yap was snatched a few days later from Lamitan, Basilan, and along with other captives used as a human shield against pursuing government troops.

Reports of a rift among the bandits cropped up following the collapse of a ransom deal for the release of the Burnhams. Officials in Washington said last month US intermediaries were used to hand over $300,000 of privately raised money to an Abu Sayyaf representative.

Sabaya later denied his group had received any of the ransom and suggested the Burnham family might have been talking with another armed group which was not actually holding the two Americans.

A spokesman for the Burnham family accused the Abu Sayyaf of reneging on the deal.

Newspaper reports, quoting an unnamed emissary involved in the ransom negotiations, said Sabaya actually got the money but ran off with it. It was reported that Sabaya had apparently formed his own faction.

Hundreds of US special forces troops have been assisting the Philippine military in hunting down the Abu Sayyaf, which has been linked to the al-Qaeda terrorist network run by fugitive Saudi financier Osama bin Laden.

The US military involvement is part of the US government’s worldwide war against terrorism, launched after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks last year.

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