2 Sayyaf leaders fall

MANILA, Philippines - Two suspected Abu Sayyaf leaders, one with a bounty of P3.3 million and another tagged in the kidnapping of mostly foreign tourists in a Palawan resort, have been arrested this week, authorities said.
Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Nicanor Bartolome said Sali Basal Taib, alias Gonggong Sali and Abu Husni, was collared near the Barangay Wal Primary School in Palimbang, Sultan Kudarat shortly before noon last Tuesday by intelligence operatives of Task Force Sanglahi-A Mindanao Team.
Bartolome said Taib faces charges of kidnapping and serious illegal detention for seizing 10 workers of the Golden Harvest plantation in Lantawan, Basilan in June 2001.
The following day, an Abu Sayyaf sub-commander, Abdula Alad, using the aliases of Salip Abdulla Magdal, Anwar Muda, Salip Abdulla, and Abduwa Salip, was captured in his safehouse on Malamawi Island off Isabela City, Basilan.
Alad had a pending arrest warrant for his alleged participation in the kidnapping of 20 tourists, including US missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham and American Guillermo Sobero, from a Palawan resort 11 years ago.
At the height of the kidnapping, Sobero was executed while Martin Burnham and Filipino nurse Edibirah Yap were killed and Gracia was wounded during an attempt to rescue them in Sirawai, Zamboanga del Norte.
Police said Alad is a known henchman of slain Abu Sayyaf leaders Nadzmi Saabtula, alias Global, and Ghalib Andang, alias Commander Robot.