Malaysian police yesterday said the Philippines’ Abu Sayyaf militant Islamist group was believed to be behind the killing of a Taiwanese tourist and the kidnapping of his wife.
Unidentified gunmen shot dead 57-year-old Hsu Li-min (許立民) and kidnapped his female companion, 58-year-old Chang An-wei (張安薇), early on Friday on Pom Pom Island, a popular scuba diving location in the eastern state of Sabah on Borneo Island.
The incident — in a remote part that was rocked earlier this year by a bloody Philippine militant incursion — has underlined continued threats in the region despite a Malaysian security clampdown.
Police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said Abu Sayyaf was suspected to be behind the attack.
“We believe the terrorists were able to slip in because there has been a big mobilization of resources of the Philippine armed forces from the country’s south to the north to help out in relief work for victims of Super Typhoon Haiyan,” he was quoted by national news agency Bernama as saying.
Khalid added the attackers were believed to have come in a group of eight in a speedboat.
Authorities are still trying to find the kidnapped woman with help from their Philippine counterparts, he said.
Local authorities said yesterday that Chang is likely still alive, but her armed captors may have taken her to an island off the Philippines.
Funded by the late al-Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden in the 1990s, Abu Sayyaf has targeted foreigners with kidnappings for ransom and has been accused of most of the Philippines’ deadliest insurgent attacks.
The southern Philippines is just a short boat ride away from Sabah’s east coast.
Meanwhile, Sabah Police Commissioner Hamza Taib said Hsu’s body has been sent to a nearby hospital for an autopsy.
Police are continuing to gather information from the other tourists at the resort, who reportedly have not left the island and will continue with their vacation plans. Chang and Hsu checked into the resort on Tuesday and were scheduled to check out on Wednesday this week.
Their family has asked Taiwan’s government for assistance.
Hsu Li-min’s elder brother, Hsu Li-jen (許立人), said he found it unbelievable that a shooting like this could take place at a popular tourist resort, urging Taiwan to help his family find justice.
The elder Hsu said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has conveyed the family’s wishes that Malaysian authorities not conduct an autopsy without the family present.
The family of the deceased is scheduled to travel to Malaysia tomorrow to put his affairs in order.
Additional reporting by CNA
TIMING: 'The CHIPS Act funding is crucial for us. In other words, if the act’s passage is delayed for too long, we will certainly need to adjust,’ chairwoman Doris Hsu said GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓) plans to start construction on a US$5 billion wafer fabrication facility in Texas in November, after passage of the US$52 billion Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) for America Act. The fab would be the largest of its kind in the US and one of the largest in the world, with a monthly capacity of 1.2 million wafers, GlobalWafers said, adding that the investment would be the first new fab in the US in more than 20 years and critical to closing a semiconductor supply chain gap. The world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier said the project, which
Samsung Electronics Co yesterday commenced mass production of 3-nanometer chips that are more powerful and efficient than predecessors, beating rival Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to a key milestone in the race to build the most advanced chips in the world. South Korea’s largest company said in a statement that it was beginning with 3-nanometer semiconductors for high-performance and specialized low-power computing applications before expanding to mobile processors. By applying so-called Gate-All-Around transistor architecture, Samsung’s 3-nanometer products reduce power consumption by up to 45 percent and improve performance by 23 percent compared with 5-nanometer chips, it said. Samsung’s push to be first
Three to four tropical storms or typhoons are expected to hit Taiwan this year due to a weak La Nina effect in the northwest Pacific Ocean, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said yesterday, as typhoon season begins next month. Taiwan’s typhoon season generally lasts from July to September, with most typhoons occurring in August. Weather Forecast Center Director Lu Kuo-chen (呂國臣) told a news conference that a weakening La Nina is expected to have less of an effect on Taiwan. “The climate simulation we conducted, and those conducted by other meteorological agencies around the world, showed that the number of typhoons that
HYBRID THREAT: Lauding the alliance’s global vision in facing up to China’s challenges, MOFA said that Taiwan would continue to bolster cooperation with democratic allies NATO has for the first time singled out China as one of its strategic priorities for the next decade, warning about its growing military ambitions, confrontational rhetoric toward Taiwan and other neighbors, and increasingly close ties to Russia. In Taipei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday said it appreciates the alliance’s global vision in facing up squarely to the systemic challenges posed by China. While Russia’s war against Ukraine has dominated discussions at the NATO summit in Madrid, China on Wednesday earned a place among the Western alliance’s most worrying security concerns. “China is substantially building up its military forces, including nuclear
RSS