Captured Abu Sayyaf leader brought to Manila

ZAMBOANGA CITY — An Abu Sayyaf commander tagged as a "hardcore" member of the Indonesia-based terror group Jemaah Islamiyah was captured here last Monday, police said.

Al-Sharie Amiruddin Mohammad Nur, who carried the aliases Abu Omar, Tubasasab, Hamid, John Sharief, Taibuh, Taliban, Samurai and Taufiq, was said to be one of the planners of the 2001 kidnapping of tourists in a Palawan resort.

Nur was also tagged in the 1993 abduction of an American linguist in Sulu and the high-profile 2000 kidnapping of mostly foreign tourists in Sipadan, Malaysia.

Senior Superintendent Francisco Cristobal, city police chief, said Nur was transported to Manila yesterday and handed over to the Department of Justice (DOJ).

"The DOJ will handle the case as we have a witness in Manila who can (shed light on) the actual participation of (Nur) in the Palawan kidnapping," Cristobal told reporters.

The Abu Sayyaf raided the upscale Palawan resort on May 28, 2001 and seized 20 tourists, three of them Americans, and brought them to Basilan.

Subsequently, the extremist group beheaded American-Peruvian Guillermo Sobero. American missionary Martin Burnham was fatally shot while his wife, Gracia, was wounded during a subsequent military rescue operation.

"Actually, (Nur) is a hardcore JI member because he has been with the Abu Sayyaf since 1991 and went into training with Khadaffy Janjalani with the foreign terrorists as trainers," Cristobal said.

Government intelligence agents captured Amiruddin last Monday afternoon in the beachfront of R.T Lim Boulevard here.

Authorities also tagged Nur in extortion activities and the twin bombings that rocked this southern port city in August 2005.

Nur, a cousin of Janjalani, reportedly admitted his role in the kidnapping of American linguist Charles Walton in Pangutaran, Sulu on Nov. 14, 1993, and the Sipadan raid where the Abu Sayyaf seized 21 tourists, mostly Malaysians and Europeans, and two Filipino resort workers.

Cristobal said Janjalani had sent Nur to this city to plan out bombings of shopping centers for extortion purposes.

However, the bombing plot was foiled following the arrest of four members of the group’s Urban Terrorist Group last April 11.

Cristobal said Nur revealed a lot of information on the Abu Sayyaf activities in Mindanao.

"But we cannot yet reveal this to the public as this may compromise our operations," he said.