On Thursday, Philippine militants took two crew members captive from a cargo ship, only hours after soldiers rescued two Malaysians held for about eight months on a southern island, officials said.
What happened?
The vessel was on its way to General Santos City on the southern island of Mindanao from the central Philippines when gunmen in three speed boats intercepted it, a coast guard commander said.
“Two Filipino crew members, the ship’s captain, and chief engineer were taken captive,” Lieutenant-Commander Alvin Dagalea told reporters.
“The reports are still sketchy, but we have reasons to believe the Abu Sayyaf is behind the attack.”
2 rescued from captives:
In the nearby Sulu archipelago, troops rescued two Malaysian captives in waters off Pata Island, said Major General Carlito Galvez Jr., commander of the Western Mindanao Command.
The two, who were among five Malaysian tugboat crew seized by militants in July last year off the Malaysian state of Sabah, were weak and “in sickly state” when rescued, Galvez said.
Plea to curb attacks:
The small but violent Islamist Abu Sayyaf, based in the south of the mainly Roman Catholic Philippines, is known for kidnappings, beheadings, bombings, and extortion. It is widely believed that no captives are released by the group without a ransom being paid.
This month, President Rodrigo Duterte pleaded for help from mayors in Muslim parts of the south to deal with the militants and threatened to impose martial law there if the problem was not tackled.
An embarrassment to the nation:
Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana has described Abu Sayyaf’s kidnappings as a national embarrassment, saying the number of hostages had increased to 31 from 18 captives when Duterte came to power on June 30.
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Source: Reuters
