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Governor Among 4 Wounded in Abu Sayyaf Ambush

STAFF | Agence France-Presse | July 21, 2002

"The government had said the kidnapping group had been decimated after some 1,000 US troops were deployed to the south to help train and assist local troops in their hunt for the kidnappers. However, on Thursday, Abu Solaiman, a leader of the group, read a statement over local radio stations threatening new attacks on US interests."

ZAMBOANGA: A provincial governor and three others were wounded when fighters of the Abu Sayyaf Muslim kidnapping group ambushed them in the southern Philippines on Saturday, the military said.

A local resident who acted as a military informer against the Abu Sayyaf was also abducted from his home and tortured and killed on Saturday despite the government's earlier remarks that the Abu Sayyaf was a "spent force."

Governor Yusop Jikiri of the Sulu island group and other local officials were ambushed in Indanan town on Jolo island as they were returning from a wedding party, regional military chief Colonel Romeo Tolentino said.

However, the security escorts fought back and the four wounded people were able to reach safety. One Abu Sayyaf fighter was believed slain.

Jikiri, a former Muslim guerrilla leader himself, suffered only slight injuries when he led his security detail in assaulting the guerrillas after learning that the Abu Sayyaf had ambushed his companions.

"I guess he didn't want them to get tired waiting for him," Tolentino said.

Two trucks loaded with soldiers and two armoured vehicles have been sent to the area where fighting with the Abu Sayyaf is still going on.

In the other Abu Sayyaf stronghold on Basilan island, Nijar Abdurahman, 30, was taken from his home in Isabela City before dawn and his dead body was found in a sack about near Lamitan town, a police report said. It added that his body bore the signs of torture.

Police had no immediate suspects in the killing but remarked that the victim was known to have identified areas for the military where the Abu Sayyaf, a notorious kidnapping group, had been operating in Basilan.

The government had said the kidnapping group had been decimated after some 1,000 US troops were deployed to the south to help train and assist local troops in their hunt for the kidnappers.

However, on Thursday, Abu Solaiman, a leader of the group, read a statement over local radio stations threatening new attacks on US interests.

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