Abu Sayyaf will be crushed, AFP assures visiting attachés

ZAMBOANGA CITY — The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) pledged to visiting foreign military attachés that it would crush the Abu Sayyaf, which claims to have links with the al-Qaeda network of suspected international terrorist Osama bin Laden.

AFP Southern Command (Southcom) chief Lt. Gen. Roy Cimatu made the assurance to some 15 foreign military attachés and observers who arrived here yesterday to assess the AFP’s campaign against local terrorists.

The attachés, including those from the US, Japan, South Korea, China, France, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, India and Indonesia, arrived amid tight security at around 10 a.m. and were brought to the Southcom headquarters here for a closed-door briefing.

"They are here to assess and find ways of helping the Philippine military fight terrorism," said Cimatu, who claimed his ongoing operation against the Abu Sayyaf was nearing completion.

The Abu Sayyaf are still holding an American missionary couple and eight Filipinos in the dense jungle of nearby Basilan island but the military now reports positive developments in the five-month search and destroy operation.

Military sources said the discussions centered on the operation against the Abu Sayyaf but the recent kidnapping of Italian priest Guiseppe Pierantoni was also partly discussed.

"They will see what training is needed to help our Armed Forces fight terrorism," Cimatu said.

While the Abu Sayyaf was a fundamentalist group in the early 1990s, it turned to kidnapping and other criminal activities since its founder was killed by government troopers in 1998.

The US, however, included the group in its list of international terrorists after the Abu Sayyaf last year staged a bold raid on an island resort in Malaysia and seized 21 people, mostly European tourists.

Also last year, the Abu Sayyaf also held Jeffrey Schilling of Oakland, California, who walked into the bandits’ camp with his Filipina girl friend, who happened to be a cousin of the bandit spokesman.

In May, the Abu Sayyaf again raided an island resort in Palawan and seized 21 hostages, including three Americans, and brought them to Basilan.

The bandits beheaded one of the Americans, Guillermo Sobero of Corona, California, but are still holding the missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham along with eight Filipino hostages.

Several hours before the foreign attachés arrived, a homemade bomb exploded near the house of the operator of the Biel Bus company, some 500 meters from the Zamboanga International Airport, at around 2 a.m.

But authorities said the explosion probably had nothing to do with the military attachés’ arrival and was likely an attempt to extort money from the bus company.

The military attachés arrived a day after a five-man advance team of US military advisers arrived to assess and determine what military matériel government troops would need to finally crush the bandit group.

At least 18 other US military advisers are expected to arrive on Thursday or Friday but military officials stressed that the US advisers would only help forge a "battle plan" against the Abu Sayyaf within two weeks.