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Filipino Bandits Now Blamed for Grisly Killings

Two Jehovah's Witnesses beheaded

Thursday, August 22, 2002
(12:56 PM CDT)
The Associated Press

Lemuel Montulo, left, and his sister Flor were among those kidnapped; Mr. Montulo was murdered.
Image Credit: The Associated Press.

The Abu Sayyaf has often kidnapped for ransom, but more frequently has abducted poor Filipinos, mostly Christians, to serve for weeks or months as slave labor. Kidnapped women -- all four of the remaining captives are female -- are sometimes forced to marry guerrillas.

MANILA, Philippines -- AP
At the height of the last Abu Sayyaf kidnapping spree, it seemed that just about every crime in the southern Philippines was being blamed on the al-Qaeda-linked group. So no one was surprised when police and the military said the guerrillas were responsible for snatching six Jehovah's Witnesses who ventured into one of their stronghold areas.

But after the heads of two captives were found Thursday, the military backtracked and blamed unspecified bandits, raising questions whether the government -- which said just weeks ago that the Abu Sayyaf was decimated and on the run -- was trying to limit damage in a country already suffering from a reputation as Asia's kidnap capital.

The fallout from Tuesday's abductions on Jolo island mounted quickly. The stock market, already worried about a burgeoning budget deficit, fell the following two days, and the peso closed at a nine-month low against the dollar Thursday.

Things had been looking up. A yearlong Abu Sayyaf kidnapping spree came to a bloody but conclusive end June 7, and one of the group's leaders was believed to have been killed in a clash at sea. There had been no further Abu Sayyaf abductions since U.S. troops arrived in February for a six-month counterterrorism training exercise that ended three weeks ago.
(More: The Dallas Morning News Source)
2002 © The Associated Press.

Dan