Filipino militants ‘kidnap’ German after yacht attack
Print Edition
THE Philippine military is verifying a claim by Abu Sayyaf militants that they have kidnapped a German man from a yacht and shot and killed his female companion, whose suspected body was found in the abandoned boat in southern Philippines, officials said yesterday.
Regional military spokesman Major Filemon Tan said Abu Sayyaf spokesman Muamar Askali had claimed the militants kidnapped Juergen Kantner and killed his companion while the couple were cruising off neighboring Malaysia’s Sabah state.
It’s not clear why the woman was purportedly killed, but it’s possible she may have fought back or tried to escape, Tan and another military official said.
Villagers reported finding a dead woman lying beside a shotgun on board a light blue yacht with the German flag and marked “Rockall” off Laparan Island in Sulu province, Tan said. The southern province is where the ransom-seeking militants hold their hostages in tropical jungle encampments.
Troops took custody of the woman’s body and the yacht yesterday. The body and the yacht were being examined by police investigators in Tawi Tawi province, near Sulu, as part of efforts to verify the Abu Sayyaf’s claim, the military’s Western Mindanao Command said in a statement.
“Alarming is that the body found was naked and had several contusions to the face and was possibly raped,” the army said.
If the attack on the couple is confirmed, it would be the latest in a wave of attacks at sea by the Abu Sayyaf and allied gunmen despite efforts by the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia to jointly shore up security in their busy sea border, where Indonesians and Malaysians have been kidnapped from tugboats and fishing boats in recent months.
Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry confirmed receiving information about the separate kidnappings of two Indonesian skippers of vessels off Sabah over the weekend, saying it was in touch with Malaysian and Philippine government officials about it.
The kidnappings have continued despite one of the largest military offensives against the Abu Sayyaf, mainly in Sulu and the nearby island province of Basilan, involving more than 6,000 troops, navy gunboats and rocket-firing air force aircraft.
Without a known foreign source of funds, the Abu Sayyaf has survived mostly on ransom kidnappings, extortion and other acts of banditry.
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