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March 13, 2006

Philippines: Islamist Kidnapper And Decapitator Arrested

Reports from Mainichi News, the Manila Standard and Radio Australia relate that a senior member of the outlawed Islamist group Abu Sayyaf was captured on Sunday, after a raid on his hideout on the southern island of Mindanao in the Philippines.

The Islamist, Burham Sali, is accused of kidnapping a group of tourists and Filipino workers from Dos Palmas, a resort on the western island of Palawan in May 2001.

Sali is further accused of kidnapping 29 individuals, including schoolteachers and 22 children, on the island of Basilan on 20 March, 2000.

Abu Sayyaf was at the height of its powers at that time, with more than 1,000 guerillas then in operation. Now, their number of hardcore activists is said to number only 250.

Though Abu Sayyaf is an Islamist group, which has claimed that it wants Mindanao, where most of Philippines Muslims live to become an independent Islamic state, and it has links with Jemaah Islamiyah, which wishes to set up an independent Muslim nation in southeast Asia, the political processes for such a move have generally passed them by,

SInce the Philippines government of Gloria Macapal Arroyo began peace talks with another Muslim group seeking autonomy, the Mindanao Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), support for Abu Sayyaf appears to be shrinking. Abu Sayyaf are still involved with insurgencies on the island of Jolo, where they have a base, in conjunction with rebel members of the Moro National Liberation Front, or MNLP, Abu Sayyaf's tactics have been exposed for the brutality and banditry they truly represent.

Abu Sayyaf's campaigns of kidnappings are marked by their cruelty. The group would make videotapes of their members beheading hostages. They made their income from such hostage takings and ransom, and regularly killed captives to force payment of money. The kidnappings in which Burham Sali was involved are no less brutal.

The kidnappings on Tumahubong town on Basilan island, which happened on March 20, 2000, led to two hostages being beheaded a fortnight later on Wednesday 19 April. The group claimed they had decapitated the two victims with a sword as a "birthday present" for the then president, Joseph Estrada, who was 63 on that day.

An army assault on their base on Basilan on May 03 led to the release of 15 of the hostages, thirteen children and two adults. Unfortunately, four more hostages were discovered dead during the rescue operation. Five of the freed hostages, including the two adults, were injured in the mission.

Three days later, the headless bodies of two of the captured teachers were discovered. Their hands had been tied behind their backs, and they had been buried in a shallow grave in the compound at Basilan.

A year later, on 27 May, 2001, the kidnappings at Dos Palmas, Palawan island were equally unsavoury in their savagery, where 20 people were kidnapped from a beach. The majority of the hostages were ethnic Chinese Filipino tourists, but also among the kidnapped were three Americans and four resort workers.

Among the Americans were Guillermo Sobero (pictured above, left) from California, and a US missionary couple, Martin and Gracia Burnham. The Burnhams (pictured below right), from Wichita, Kansas, were celebrating their 18th wedding anniversary at the resort.

Early accounts of the raid stated that the hostages had been separated into three groups and taken away.

Within a month, the kidnappers announced that they had beheaded 40-year old Mr Guillermo, because Abu Sayyaf had wanted a military rescue operation to cease, and the new government of Gloria Arroyo had not capitulated to their demands.

The announcement was verified when four months after the kidnap, a skull was found on Monday October 8 that year.The skull was discovered on a tree trunk on the island of Basilan. A pile of bones found nearby three days earlier were sent off for examination.

On Friday 12 October 2001, it was confirmed that the skull and the bones belonged to Mr Guillermo.

By that stage, 12 Filipino hostages had already been beheaded. On Thursday 11 October, three Filipino hostages had managed to escape. Bertram Benasing, 21 and his 14-year old brother Zardi, and also 20-uear old Michael Abellion had been sent to fetch water and banas by the Abu Sayyaf bandits. They walked all night until found.

They claimed that they had seen Gracia and Martin Burnham the night before, and they were healthy.

But a year later, a mission to rescue the Burnhams on June 7, 2002 ended in tragedy. Martin Burnham and one of the Filipino hostages, nurse Ediborah Yap were killed. Gracia Burnham was rescued alive, but she had been shot in the thigh.

Gracia returned in July 2004 to give evidence against her captors. She was able to positively identify six of the eight individuals on trial as those who kept them prisoner, and who kept her husband ankle-bound with a rusty dog chain.

She had made a controversial claim that she believed her captors from Abu Sayyaf had been working in conjunction with the Philippines military.

Yesterday's capture of Salih Burham was made by troops from the 6th Infantry Division and police, led by Major General Agustin Dimaala. An army spokesman, Lt. Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, broke the news to reporters earlier today.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at March 13, 2006 11:58 AM

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