Sayyaf threatens beheadings anew

ZAMBOANGA CITY - The Abu Sayyaf fundamentalist group renewed its threat yesterday to behead the men among the 29 hostages it is holding in a mountain hideout after President Estrada rejected its demands.

The hostages would either "go home without their heads" or "only their heads would be sent home," said Abu Asmad Sallayuddin, spokesman for the Abu Sayyaf, now known as Al Harakatul Islamia.

In rejecting the terrorists' demands, President Estrada said he would not compromise with them and that their leaders should be taught a lesson.

Earlier, the Abu Sayyaf demanded the release of three Muslims jailed in the United States, including Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York.

Sallayuddin said the beheading, which he calls "ribbon-cutting," of the adult male hostages will push through, and that the children will be raised to become Abu Sayyaf fighters.

"(President) Estrada's comment is difficult," he said "We told them we will cut the heads of the male hostages, then we will."

Of the 29 remaining hostages the terrorists are still holding, seven are adults, one of them Catholic priest Fr. Roel Gallardo, and the rest are believed to be school children.

Salayuddin said the Abu Sayyaf will also bomb targets and assassinate officials, priests and prominent civilians in the cities of Zamboanga, General Santos, and Davao, and other key cities like Manila.

"If they are tough, we are also tough," he said in Filipino.

He berated the Basilian Crisis Management Committee headed by Vice Gov. Abdulaziz Balamo for having no word of honor.

The remaining 83 sacks of rice, gasoline, crude oil and canned goods which the government had promised have not been delivered to Camp Aburrazzak, he added.

Sallayuddin said his band of terrorists had only received 115 sacks of rice out of the originally decided 200.

On the other hand, Balamo said the Abu Sayyaf had broken its promise to stick to its principal demands and that they had also made individual demands to members of the Crisis Management Committee.

Balamo said action star Robin Padilla was expected to return to Camp Abdurrazzak to clarify "once and for all" the smooth and speedy solution of the hostage crisis.

The military was closely watching the hostage negotiations and was ready to respond to any eventuality, Armed Forces chief Gen. Angelo Reyes said yesterday.

"Whatever has to be done and whatever we will be told to do, we will do it." he said.

Reyes said the government has shown patience over the dragging of the hostage crisis in the wake of the Abu Sayyaf's impossible demands.

"Everybody is concerned about the safety of the hostages," he said. "We are outraged by this development."

He said that at this point the military was letting the Crisis Management Committee do all the negotiations.

"We of course will have to have one group that will be primarily dealing with them--the Crisis Management Committee," he said.

Meanwhile, Atika Janjalani, sister of Abu Sayyaf leader Khadaffi Janjalani, refused to go with Padilla after vigilante leader Abdul Mijal released her following separate negotiations with the action star.

"As much as possible we would like to be released at the same time because we were taken together so the negotiation will only be held once," she said in Pilipino.

Padilla met with Mijal in the hinterlands of Marang, Tipo-Tipo town on Saturday, the deadline set by the vigilantes for the Abu Sayyaf to free their 29 remaining hostages.

Mijal had stopped his threat to have the Janjalanis put before a firing squad. - With PNA, Reuters