Islamic militants holding three Red Cross aid workers have not yet released any of their hostages, despite promises of a pullback from the Philippine military, authorities said yesterday.
Manila announced a military retreat after Abu Sayyaf threatened to kill the hostages at the end of the month if the army cordon around the rebels was not lifted.
Sulu provincial Governor Abdusakur Tan, head of a government task force dealing with the crisis, said he spoke by telephone yesterday with Albader Parad, the spokesman for the kidnappers who had earlier threatened the captives with beheading.
“He said they are not budging, so they are sticking to their original demand,” Tan said.
The gunmen want all government forces to pull back to Jolo island’s provincial capital, effectively yielding the entire Sulu island group and its half a million residents to Abu Sayyaf control.
Tan told ABS-CBN television that he hoped the military pullback would at least get the kidnappers to negotiate, even if there was no immediate hostage release.
“It is not easy to reposition troops but we are doing this just so that we can get an early release of these hostages or get them [Abu Sayyaf] to sit down and talk to us,” he said.
The government’s decision to withdraw troops came after a dramatic appeal by the head of the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross, Jakob Kellenberger, for the lives of Filipina Mary Jean Lacaba, 37, Andreas Notter, 38, of Switzerland, and Italian Eugenio Vagni, 62.
The three were snatched on Jan. 15 during a humanitarian mission.
The Abu Sayyaf, linked by the military to the al-Qaeda network, has been blamed for the country’s worst terrorist attacks, including kidnappings and bombings.
In a separate interview, Parad told ABS-CBN one captive would be freed if the military showed signs of moving.
“Even if the retreat is not completed within 36 hours, as long as we can see a total pullout happening, we will turn over one of them,” he said.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
IN PURSUIT: Israel’s defense minister said the revenge attacks by Israeli settlers would make it difficult for security forces to find those responsible for the 14-year-old’s death Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday condemned the “heinous murder” of an Israeli teenager in the occupied West Bank as attacks on Palestinian villages intensified following news of his death. After Benjamin Achimeir, 14, was reported missing near Ramallah on Friday, hundreds of Jewish settlers backed by Israeli forces raided nearby Palestinian villages, torching vehicles and homes, leaving at least one villager dead and dozens wounded. The attacks escalated in several villages on Saturday after Achimeir’s body was found near the Malachi Hashalom outpost. Agence France-Presse correspondents saw smoke rising from burned houses and fields. Mayor Amin Abu Alyah, of the