ZAMBOANGA CITY, 26 November 2006 — Government troops have recaptured an escaped Abu Sayyaf militant who had been linked to the beheading of a foreign tourist in the southern island of Basilan five years ago, officials said yesterday.
Annik Abbas, also known as Abu Annik, was captured in the village of Colonia near Tuburan town on Basilan before midnight Friday, said Maj. Eugene Batara, a regional army spokesman.
Abbas was headed for another village on board a motorcycle when soldiers intercepted him, Batara said.
“Informants helped us capture the notorious Annik Abbas who escaped from prison in Basilan in 2002,” he told reporters. “Abbas was among the Abu Sayyaf men who kidnapped 20 people from a resort island on Palawan in 2001. We have information he took part in the beheading of American tourist Guillermo Sobero on Basilan.”
“We are still investigating Abbas for his role in past kidnappings-for-ransom and killings on the island. There is an operation going on in Basilan to track down other militants,” he added.
Abbas was arrested in 2002 in an army offensive on Basilan but escaped from the provincial jail later.
Philippine military chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon on Friday ordered soldiers to intensify the hunt for Abu Sayyaf chief Khadaffy Janjalani and Jemaah Islamiyah bombers Dulmatin and Umar Patek, both wanted by Indonesia for the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people and the 2003 JW Marriot hotel bombing in Jakarta.
Washington listed the Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah as foreign terrorist organizations and offered as much as $10 million bounty for Dulmatin’s capture and another $5 million for Janjalanai’s head and $1 million reward for Patek.
