20 January 2017•Update: 20 January 2017
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines
Suspected Daesh-linked gunmen have taken three Indonesians from a fishing vessel in the Sulu Sea, in the southwestern Philippines, the military said Friday.
Maj. Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr., newly assumed chief of the Western Mindanao Command, confirmed the abduction of three foreign fishing vessel crewmen off Sulu.
He said they were taken by Abu Sayyaf Thursday, the same day soldiers rescued two Filipino hostages from their captors in the town of Indanan.
He gave no further details about the latest kidnapping.
But Lt. Col. Raphael Alano, WesMinCom’s acting spokesperson, citing the Indonesian Police Attache list, said the three were among six crew members of a Sandakan-registered fishing vessel who were initially reported missing after an attack by gunmen along the Philippine-Malaysian sea border.
"The Indonesian authorities called up us here to verify the abduction of three Indonesian crew members in the waters of Sulu," he said in a telephone interview.
Last year, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte forged an agreement with his Indonesian and Malaysian counterparts allowing their navies to enter Philippine waters to capture pirates that kidnap ships and tourists.
The president also ordered the military to crush the terrorist groups within a six-month timeframe to put an end to kidnappings and bombings.
