Posted on 05/19/2004 10:03:59 PM PDT by HAL9000
ZAMBOANGA -- Government troops have arrested an alleged Abu Sayyaf leader linked to the abduction of three American tourists in the southern Philippines, the military said Thursday.Usman Lijal and a bodyguard were detained in a raid of his hideout at a Muslim community on the outskirts of this southern city late Wednesday, said Major General Trifonio Salazar, head of the Army's First Infantry Division.
The raiders also seized weapons from the house, where at least one other suspect escaped, the general told reporters.
"We finally got him," Salazar said. "It's the result of a long surveillance operation that started on (the nearby island of) Basilan. Civilian informants provided us with vital information," he added.
Lijal is a suspect in the May 2001 kidnapping of a group of Filipino and western tourists at an island resort off the western island of Palawan, said military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Lucero.
The captives, who included a US Christian missionary couple and a Peru-born Californian, were taken by boat to Basilan where the Filipino captives were later ransomed off.
The California tourist, Guillermo Sobero, was murdered in captivity while missionary Martin Burnham was killed in a rescue attempt that sprung his wife Gracia Burnham the following year.
Lucero told Agence France-Presse Lijal's group supported the kidnappers in Basilan, providing them with guns, ammunition and food.
The US government later blacklisted the Abu Sayyaf as a "foreign terrorist organization," dispatched a small unit of special forces to help train Filipino soldiers on Basilan, and offered bounties for its top leaders.
The rebel group was drummed out of its stronghold and a number of its top leaders were later arrested or killed elsewhere.
Both the US and Filipino governments say the Abu Sayyaf was set up by Filipino Muslim militants who fought against Soviet forces in Afghanistan.
It is alleged that the group was set up with seed funds from a brother-in-law of Osama bin Laden, the leader of the Al-Qaeda group of Muslim militants blamed for the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.
Lucero said there are also standing arrest warrants against Lijal for the abduction of two Belgian tourists and a British girl near Zamboanga in the 1990s. All three were later ransomed off.
Lijal is a leader in the sense that a Lt is the leader of a platoon. He is NOT a leader of Abu Sayyaf.
You're right on that. Lijal is a low level player. Khadaffy Janjalani is the leader of Abu Sayyaf.
Congrats to the forces of Phillipino freedom.
Now let's knock some more of those Abu Sayyaf dominos down.
| THE PHILIPPINES | |||
| Hashim Salamat | Secretary-General of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) | At Large | Philippines |
| Eid Kabalu | MILF spokesman | At Large | Philippines |
| al-Haj Murad Ibrahim | MILF assistant secretary-general | At Large | Philippines |
| Ghazali Jaafar | MILF military commander | At Large | Philippines |
| Sammy al-Mansoor | MILF chief of staff | At Large | Philippines |
| Khadafi Janjalani | Emir of Abu Sayyaf | At Large | Philippines |
| Radulan Sahiron | Abu Sayyaf military commander | At Large | Philippines |
| Isnilon Hapilon | Abu Sayyaf operations chief | At Large | Philippines |
| Hamsiraj Sali | Abu Sayyaf liaison to Iraq | At Large | Philippines |
| Mujib Susukan | Abu Sayyaf military commander | Dead (Febuary 2003) | Hell |
| Maid Sampang | Abu Sayyaf explosives expert | Apprehended (January 2003) | In Custody |
| Mark Bolkerin Gumbahale | Abu Sayyaf explosives expert | Apprehended (October 2002) | In Custody |
| Adjid Moro | Abu Sayyaf procurement officer | Apprehended (January 2003) | In Custody |
| Mariano Lomarda | Leader of Rajah Solaiman group | Apprehended (March 2003) | In Custody |
| Nedhal Falah Awwad al-Dhalain | Financier for Rajah Solaiman group | Apprehended (May 2002) | In Custody |
| Ahmad Abdellatif Jubran | Responsible for several bombings in PI, Linked to Mohammed Jamal Khalifa | Apprehended (May 2002) | In Custody |
Thanks, I updated the site. Most of the info there is from Freepers so keep it coming.
Didn't these bastards also behead a male American from the midwest USA? A teacher from OKLAHOMA?
Great scoreboard. But doesn't the Philippines have a catch and release program with islamic terrorists? They catch them, put them in jail, then there is a prison break and then they try to catch them again?
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