Philippines: Who kidnapped foreigners remains mystery

By Roy Ramos and Hader Glang

ZAMBOANGA, Philippines

The Philippines military said Tuesday that it remains unconvinced that the Abu Sayyaf is behind the Sept. 21 kidnapping of three foreigners in the country's south.

Spokesman Col. Restituto Padilla told radio station DzBB that reports claiming the al Qaeda-linked group had snatched the two Canadians, a Norwegian and a Filipina at a beach resort are still speculative.

"They say it is Abu Sayyaf, but evidence gathered by soldiers and police has not indicated that the militant group has done this, so we still cannot say it's conclusive," Padilla said.

Mayor Rodrigo Duterte of Davao -- the closest city to where the kidnapping occurred -- had claimed to have received intelligence reports indicating the Abu Sayyaf had taken the four to Jolo island in Sulu, where other kidnap victims are also believed to be held captive.

Sulu -- along with Basilan, one of the militant group's two strongholds in the southern Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao -- is an autonomous archipelago province in the Philippines south.

Duterte had also said that the kidnappers are allied with the Abu Sayyaf, but Padilla believes that the kidnapping style used differs from the group's.

"We wonder why there is no confirmation [Abu Sayyaf] contacted them or engaged in negotiation," Padilla said.

He said kidnappers would usually make initial contact with their captives' families immediately after the abduction.

"We have requested that Mayor Duterte link us up with the origin of his information to verify it."

Local police had initially stated they suspected the kidnappers could be members of the New People's Army -- the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines -- or a local bandit group called the Bangsamoro Army, a mixture of breakaway members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Moro National Liberation Front.

In recent days, however, all speculation has involved the Abu Sayyaf.

A source from the Sulu police told GMA News on Monday that it had received an army report saying that the hostages had been spotted in the town of Indanan on Jolo island.

GMA News also quoted another anonymous report as saying that the hostages had been seen with some 300 armed men and prominent leaders of the Abu Sayyaf.

On Tuesday, a secessionist Moro group offered to help rescue the three foreigners and Filipina.

The Manila Standard -- citing a senior official of the Moro National Liberation Front, Absalom Cerveza -- reported the group as saying that they would help in finding the hostages, but only if the government asked.

The group's Islamic Command Council (ICC) told reporters that they had sent a message to MNLF founder Nur Misuari, who heads another faction, to “help facilitate the safe release”.

ICC chair Hashim Mudjahab claimed that Misuari, who went into hiding after a violent siege on the city of Zamboanga in 2013, is in the area.

The MNLF was founded in 1969, but became factionalized after its senior leadership split and formed the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in 1976.

Since 1991, the Abu Sayyaf -- armed with mostly improvised explosive devices, mortars and automatic rifles -- has carried out bombings, kidnappings, assassinations and extortions in a self-determined fight for an independent Islamic province in the Philippines.

It is notorious for beheading victims after ransoms have failed to be paid for their release.