http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/w-asia/2002/aug/21/082101837.html
Today: August 21, 2002 at 3:50:29 PDT
Philippine Rebels Seize Hostages
By ZENY MASONGASSOCIATED PRESS
PATIKUL, Philippines- Suspected Abu Sayyaf guerrillas staged their first kidnappings since U.S. troops arrived to back a crackdown on the group, abducting at least six people who were selling Avon cosmetics door to door in a remote village.
Philippine troops responded by shelling suspected hideouts of the gang, which has been linked to al-Qaida. U.S. troops began aiding the crackdown against the Abu Sayyaf early this year after a mass kidnapping in May 2001 that included three American captives.
Jolo police chief Col. Ahiron Ajirimi said two men with pistols stopped a vehicle carrying the cosmetics sellers and forced them out Tuesday afternoon. He said the driver was left behind in the rural area of Jolo island, about 600 miles south of Manila.
Ajirimi said the driver later identified one kidnapper as Muin Maulod Sahiron, a nephew of local Abu Sayyaf leader Radullan Sahiron.
Officials initially reported that eight salespeople had been kidnapped, but two of them - the only Muslims and local residents in the group - showed up at their homes Wednesday, saying they had not been held. Police said they were investigating.
Ajirimi said six of the victims were from Zamboanga, the biggest city in the region, but were staying at a local inn and selling Avon products on Jolo island. Two women in their 40s and a 21-year-old man registered at the inn with the same last name and are likely related, he said.
A police report said the six were all Jehovah's Witnesses but said police found no evidence they were trying to evangelize in the predominantly Muslim area. The other two, Nidzmalin Sulayman and her husband Boyet, were acting as guides, Ajirimi said.
He said police found boxes of Avon cosmetics in their vehicle.
New York-based Avon Products Inc. is the world's largest direct seller of beauty products and has thousands of salespeople in the Philippines. Managers at its Manila office said they were not immediately aware of the abductions.
For six months beginning in February, about 1,200 U.S. troops trained and provided logistical and intelligence support for the Philippine army's push to eradicate the Abu Sayyaf.
The U.S. program ended officially three weeks ago, although a few Americans remained on Basilan island, which neighbors Jolo, to finish infrastructure projects. It was the first expansion of the U.S. war on terrorism outside Afghanistan.
The rebels in Jolo, about 50 miles southwest of Basilan, are from a different Abu Sayyaf faction and suffered less from the intense offensives that the military says decimated the Abu Sayyaf on Basilan.
Patikul Vice Mayor Esmon Suhuri said the Philippine army shelled suspected Abu Sayyaf hideouts around Patikul Tuesday night. Residents heard at least 10 ground-shaking artillery blasts. The fighting was the first in the war-stricken area in months.
Suhuri said the region's people were in the middle of a major harvest and renewed fighting could disrupt the relative prosperity the area has enjoyed this year.
On Wednesday, the Philippine Stock Exchange Index fell more than 2 percent on news of the kidnapping, which came amid fears of a widening national budget deficit.
The Abu Sayyaf has often kidnapped for ransom, but more frequently has abducted poor Filipinos to serve for weeks or months as slave labor.
In the past the army has refrained from launching major attacks against Abu Sayyaf while they held hostages.
Most hostages have been released, but more than a dozen have been killed in the past year, some beheaded. The group also has kidnapped women and forced them to marry guerrillas.
The last Abu Sayyaf kidnapping spree ended in June, when U.S.-trained soldiers, helped by U.S. surveillance and communications, tracked down rebels holding the last of 102 captives: American missionaries Gracia and Martin Burnham and Filipino nurse Ediborah Yap.
On June 7, soldiers rescued Mrs. Burnham, but her husband and Yap were killed. The Abu Sayyaf leader who led those kidnappings was believed killed with two of his men in a clash at sea two weeks later.
A Filipino man, Roland Ullah, is still being held from another Abu Sayyaf mass kidnapping two years ago.
