Dutch man held by Abu Sayyaf killed during escape attempt, Philippines military says

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Dutch man held by Abu Sayyaf killed during escape attempt, Philippines military says
By: The Defense Post - 5-31-19
RE: https://thedefensepost.com/2019/05/3...ed-abu-sayyaf/

Photo link: https://thedefensepost.com/wp-conten...hilippines.jpg
Militants in the Philippines pledging allegiance to ISIS

Cecil MORELLA, AFP – A Dutch birdwatcher held by Islamic State-linked militants was killed Friday during a firefight between his kidnappers and soldiers in the southern Philippines, according to the military, which said he was shot by his captors as he tried to escape.

Ewold Horn had been held since 2012 by the Abu Sayyaf group and was fatally wounded as soldiers fought a 90-minute gun battle with the jihadists on their stronghold, Jolo island.

The Dutch foreign ministry confirmed Horn died in an “exchange of fire,” adding that it was investigating the exact circumstances of his death.

Philippine Brigadier General Divino Rey Pabayo said in a statement that “Horn was shot by one of his guards when he tried to escape from the Abu Sayyaf during this morning’s gunfight.”

The military’s account could not be independently confirmed.

The southern Philippines is home to numerous armed groups, several of which are linked to the decades-old insurgency aiming to create a Muslim homeland in the Christian-majority nation’s deep south.

Horn was on an expedition to photograph rare birds on the remote Tawi-Tawi island group in the southern Philippines when he was abducted by unknown gunmen and turned over to the Abu Sayyaf.

Unpaid ransoms, hostages beheaded
Horn was seized along with Lorenzo Vinciguerra, a Swiss national who managed to escape in 2014 during a gunbattle between soldiers and his captors.

“We express our deep condolences to Mr. Horn’s family and loved ones,” Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s spokesman Salvador Panelo said in a statement.

“We vow to pursue his killers to the ends of the earth until they are brought to justice.”

Abu Sayyaf has been blamed for some of the worst terror attacks in Philippine history, including repeated kidnappings of foreigners, who are often held for huge ransoms.

Philippine officials assert the group was behind the deadly January bombing of a Catholic cathedral on Jolo island during Sunday mass that was the worst attack to hit the nation in years.

The bombing was claimed by Islamic State, which has worked to maintain a presence in the Philippines as its caliphate crumbled in the Middle East.

Abu Sayyaf commander Isnilon Hapilon pledged allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in 2014, and in July 2018 the group became part of the newly declared Islamic State East Asia province. Hapilon was killed in 2017.

Abu Sayyaf was active in the Philippines years before linking up with Islamic State, and has supported its violent activities with kidnapping.

The group has held hostages over the course of years as it negotiated ransoms, but has also shown a willingness to kill its captives.

Abu Sayyaf beheaded German hostage Jurgen Kantner, 70, in 2017 after its demands for a roughly $600,000 ransom were not met.

Two Canadian hostages kidnapped from yachts moored at a marina on a tourist island in the southern Philippines were also beheaded in 2016 after demands for ransoms of similar amounts went unfulfilled.

The military said Friday that the group was believed to hold at least two Filipinos and a Vietnamese national, but it could not be sure they were still alive.

It added that a woman named Mingayan Sahiron, which the army identified as the second wife of a top Abu Sayyaf leader, was also killed in Friday’s gunbattle.

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Longtime Dutch hostage, birdwatcher killed in battle between militants and Philippine soldiers
By: Regine Cabato - Washington Post 5-31-19
RE: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...=.2734dea42277

Photo link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/resiz...OUAQODXGNE.jpg
Philippine soldiers carry bodies toward a military helicopter as pursuit operations continue in Patikul, southern Philippines, on May 31. (Joint Task Force Sulu/AP)

MANILA — A Dutch birdwatcher who spent seven years as a hostage in the Philippines was on the brink of being freed when he was killed in the crossfire during a battle between radical Islamist militants and soldiers on Friday, authorities said.

Ewold Horn, 59, was being held by 30 members of the Abu Sayyaf Group on the island of Sulu when they were attacked by soldiers in a battle that lasted an hour and a half.

“Horn was shot by one of his guards when he tried to escape from the Abu Sayyaf,” said Brigadier General Divino Rey Pabayo Jr., commander of Joint Task Force Sulu.

Soldiers recovered his body and that of Abu Sayyaf leader Radullan Sahiron’s second wife, Mingayan Sahiron, after the fight. The organization is believed to have links to the extremist Islamic State group.

The military estimated that six militants were killed and 12 wounded, while eight soldiers sustained wounds from gunshots and shrapnel.

Horn was kidnapped in 2012 along with Swiss birdwatcher Lorenzo Vinciguerra, but the latter escaped in 2014.

Kidnapping for ransom is a common practice among the notorious Abu Sayyaf, which has been listed as a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department. Various abductions, bombings and killings have been attributed to it, most recently a cathedral bombing in Jolo earlier this year.

While the Islamic State has weakened in the Middle East, analysts say their presence has only grown in Southeast Asia. Three suspects were arrested in Malaysia on Thursday, one of whom was reported to be on the way to Syria through Egypt. Both foreign and local Islamic State-affiliated militants were involved in the attempted occupation of the Philippine city of Marawi in 2017.

The Abu Sayyaf, which was founded in 1991, was previously linked to al-Qaeda before aligning itself with the rival Islamic State. Its continued existence despite years of military offensives demonstrates the difficulty of stamping out extremist thought in the southern Philippines, which is racked by poverty and conflict.

Lt. Gen. Arnel Dela Vega, chief of the Armed Forces command in the southwestern region, extended sympathies to Horn’s family.

“We condemn the inhumane acts carried out by Abu Sayyaf members against their captives and the innocent in Sulu,” he said in a statement. “On our part, we vow to sustain our intensive campaign to defeat [them].”

In the days leading to Horn’s death, the group was the subject of a focused military operation on the island. The government claimed earlier this week that the militants were “left worn out by relentless offensives” that have been taking place since May 25.

In 2001, Abu Sayyaf had a high profile kidnapping that included three American hostages. Two of them were killed — one, Guillermo Sobero, in a beheading. The other, Martin Burnham, also died during a rescue operation.