Abu Sayyafs attacked Korean cargo ship, abducted captain and crewman

Abu Sayyaf militants hijacked a Korean cargo ship and abducted its captain and a Filipino crew member off Tawi-Tawi province in the restive Muslim autonomous region in southern Philippines, security officials said on 21th October.

Officials said the Korean flagship was sailing off Bongao town when gunmen on a speedboat intercepted the vessel on 20th October. At least 10 gunmen seized 1 Korean, the ship’s captain; and a Filipino crew, a native of Cebu province in central Philippines.

“They were seized by 10 armed men suspected to be members of the Abu Sayyaf group under Jul Hassan and Abu Sayyaf sub-leader Idang Susukan based in Sulu province,” said army Major Filemon Tan, a spokesman for the Western Mindanao Command.

He said anti-terror Joint Task Force Tawi-Tawi alerted all units and dispatched military forces to track down and rescue the hostages.

“As of press time, validation and intelligence monitoring are currently being conducted by the military in coordination with local chief executives and the locals to track down the perpetrators and safely rescue the victims,” Tan said.

Tan did not release details about the ship or where it was heading or the number of its sailors, and whether it is under the custody of the Philippine authorities while military operation continue in Tawi-Tawi near the Sabah border.

There was no immediate statement from the Korean Embassy in Manila about the hijacking and abduction of its citizen at the time of reporting. But this occurred despite the military’s public pronouncement that thousands of troops had been deployed to fight the Abu Sayyaf militants whose group is allied with the Islamic State.

The Abu Sayyaf is still holding at least a dozen Indonesian and Malaysian sailors kidnapped off Sabah in Malaysia.