MANILA: Beset by funding problems, the Abu Sayyaf group in southern Philippines have gone on a kidnapping spree, authorities said Monday. Chief Superintendent Agrimero Cruz, Jr., spokesman of the Philippine National Police (PNP), said armed men believed to be Abu Sayyaf militants Saturday hijacked a boat in Sulu province and abducted three fishermen on board. Then on Monday, another Abu Sayyaf group kidnapped a restaurant worker on Basilan island. The militants fled aboard a jeep which they later burned, regional military spokesman Lt. Col. Randolph Cabangbang said. Cabangbang identified the head of the Abu Sayyaf band as commander Nurhassan Jamiri, a notorious militant known for bombing civilian targets and beheading captured soldiers and civilians. In a recent government threat assessment report, Philippine authorities said only 410 Abu Sayyaf fighters remain after the government intensified military operations against the Al Qaeda-linked group which has been blacklisted by the United States as a terrorist organization. Authorities said the government offensives have resulted in the deaths and arrest of the group's key leaders such as the Janjalani brothers and reduced their capability to sow terror. Without a central leader, the bandits have turned to kidnapping even poor Filipinos to support themselves, the officials said. Cruz said the bandits took have contacted the management of the fishing company to demand ransom payment. — Saudi Gazette Police Director Felicisimo Khu Jr. said the latest kidnappings and the recent deadly bombing in Sulu showed that the militants remained a potent force despite their many battle setbacks. He said this also underscored the difficulty of fighting terrorism. “These people will not hesitate to harm if they're cornered,” Khu said. Last year, Abu Sayyaf bandits killed at least six hostages after the latter's families failed to pay the demanded ransom, officials said. In 2000, the Abu Sayyaf abducted 21 people, mostly European tourists, from the Malaysian resort of Sipadan. The following year, they seized three Americans and 17 Filipinos from the Dos Palmas resort in the Philippine province of Palawan. The militants freed the Sipadan hostages apparently after huge ransoms were paid. In the Palawan kidnapping, the bandits beheaded one of three American hostages while a second one, Martin Burnham, was killed during an army rescue attempt. The third American, Burnham's wife Graci was wounded but rescued during a military operation.
