Abu Sayyaf gunmen kill 3 hostages in Basilan

Abu Sayyaf bandits fatally shot three abducted rubber plantation workers in Sumisip municipality on Basilan island Friday, after their families failed to pay a ransom, a military task force commander said Saturday. The bullet-riddled bodies of Claudio Mañanita, Rolando Francisco and Dariel Quintela were found by residents in Sukaten village and retrieved Saturday morning by the military, according to Rear Admiral Alex Pama, commander of the military Joint Task Force Trillium. “We recovered them today and subsequently turned them over to the [Philippine National Police] and to their families," said Pama The Abu Sayyaf group led by Furuji Indama seized the three men from a passenger jeepney on the way to Isabela City on May 27. The bandits demanded P3 million in ransom from their families, who are too poor to raise the amount, Basilan military commander Brig. Gen. Eugenio Clement said. The abductions came two weeks after troops raided an Abu Sayyaf camp, killing a bandit and capturing 14 others. Elite army Scout Rangers, who have been pursuing the kidnappers, clashed with a group of Abu Sayyaf gunmen in Sumisip earlier on Friday, killing two Abu Sayyaf men, army spokesman Maj. Ronald Jess Alcudia said. Two soldiers and two bandits also were wounded in the firefight, he said. Read Adm. Pama said the victims might have been shot while the kidnappers were fleeing from the area after the firefight with the Scout Rangers. “Maybe they were escaping because our troops mounted an operation in the nearby barangay. They may have panicked. They may have shot the victims before running away. This (killing of the hostages) has no direct relation with the operation because the operation was in the other barangay," he said. Pama said that according to initial reports, the escaping bandits also fired indiscriminately at some civilians while passing through another area in Sukaten village also on Friday. The reports said two civilians were wounded in the related incident. The military is verifying sketchy information that one of the civilians later died. Pursuit operations against the Abu Sayyaf group were ongoing as of Saturday afternoon, Pama added.—With AP report/JV, GMANews.TV