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 the south, officials said yesterday.
Regional military spokesman Major Filemon Tan said Abu Sayyaf spokesman Muamar Askali had claimed the militants kidnapped Juegen Kantner and killed his companion while the couple were cruising off Malaysia’s Sabah state.
It is not clear why the woman was purportedly killed, but it is possible she might 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.
Troops yesterday took custody of the woman’s body and the yacht, which are being examined by police in Tawi Tawi province, near Sulu, the 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 military 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 Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed receiving information about the separate kidnappings of two Indonesian skippers of vessels off Sabah over the weekend, saying it was touch with Malaysian and Philippine government officials about the latest kidnappings.
A confidential Philippine government threat assessment report seen by reporters said the militants have pocketed at least 353 million pesos (US$7.3 million) from ransom kidnappings in the first six months of the year and have turned to abductions of foreign tugboat crewmen as military offensives restricted their mobility.
Anticipating that the Abu Sayyaf may soon demand the German to be ransomed off, Tan appealed for people to follow the Philippine government’s no-ransom policy.
“If we give in to ransom, a greater damage will be done. They can use the money to buy arms and to feed their bandits and that will fuel again the tendency for them to kidnap,” Tan said. “It becomes a lucrative business.”
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