Word: sayyaf
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...Mindanao because it took at least six slugs to stop one of these fierce tribesmen before he hacked your head off. Today, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is having an even tougher time than Pershing in vanquishing the Moro's pirate descendants: the Islamic militant group known as Abu Sayyaf, which is holding 13 hostages, including three Americans, in the jungles of the country's deepest south...
...Manila. All the army had to do was tighten the siege and the guerrillas would have been forced to surrender the hostages they had plucked from an island resort a few days before. But commanders dropped the ball big time. Sometime before dawn the following day, the 200 Abu Sayyaf fighters escaped through the rear wall of the hospital and church compound. One Lamitan woman, awakened by the sound of footsteps in the lane, peered out to see the guerrillas stalking by. "They just walked away with their hostages," she later said. "Nobody challenged them...
...Sayyaf's stroll to safety revealed the military's ham-handedness?the commander who botched the siege was fired?and indefinitely prolonged the hostages' deadly peril. Moreover, it proved that Arroyo's frequently reiterated rhetorical resolve was not enough, and that Abu Sayyaf is likely to continue to be a plague on the country for a long time to come. It's a cruel group: after their escape last week, the kidnappers beheaded two Filipinos?a cook and security guard seized in the raid on the Dos Palmas tourist resort in the western province of Palawan. Speaking by sat phone...
...which can only lessen the remaining hostages' hopes of getting out unscathed. Zulkurnain Hashim, a 30-year-old wildlife ranger kidnapped last year from Sipadan Island, comments: "If there is a military attack, the Abu Sayyaf will not think twice to kill them." South African Monique Strydom wrote in her diary (recently published in Shooting the Moon) on June 19, 2000, day 58 of her abduction: "I hate them. I hate them a thousand times. I hate them for what they are doing to us ... to our families ... our parents ... for everything they have taken away from us. I hate...
...Recio, 8, who left his father Luis behind. The gunships and troop carriers then moved in, picking off the snipers and pounding the two buildings. The surviving rebels appeared to relish the prospect of death. Remarking that the Prophet Muhammad's birthday was two weeks off, an Abu Sayyaf leader told TIME: "It's jihad time. And what better time? It will be a rare privilege to die on his birthday. Thanks to the Abu Sayyaf...