No let-up vs kidnappers

MANILA, Philippines – Combined military-police operations will continue in Sulu and Basilan until after all four remaining kidnapping victims have been rescued, Lt. Gen. Nelson Allaga, commander of the Armed Forces’ Western Mindinao Command (Westmincom), said yesterday.

This developed as President Arroyo visited yesterday the wake at the Westmincom chapel in Zamboanga City of a junior Army officer who was killed in an assault on the lair of Abu Sayyaf bandits and Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels in Tuburan town last Wednesday.

The assault left 10 kidnappers, including two MILF commanders and an Abu Sayyaf leader, dead.

“It is within our mandate. Our anti-kidnapping and anti-terror operations will continue until we have accomplished our mission,” Allaga said. – Jaime Laude, Roel Pareño