Philippine troops free four Indonesian hostages, kill Abu Sayyaf leader ‘Apo Mike’
- Majan Sahidjuan, alias Apo Mike, was among five militants whose boat capsized last week with the kidnap victims aboard, according to the military
- Three of the four hostages were rescued from the sea. The fourth, a 15-year-old, was found at the site of the gun battle where Sahidjuan was fatally hurt
Philippine troops have killed a leader of the Abu Sayyaf kidnap-for-ransom group and rescued four Indonesian hostages held since last year.
Majan Sahidjuan, alias Apo Mike, was severely wounded in a gun battle with the marines on Saturday night in Languyan town in southern Tawi-Tawi province, and later died, said Lieutenant General Corleto Vinluan Jnr.
“We are happy that all the hostages are safe now and we are also able to neutralise the notorious ‘Apo Mike’ and two of his comrades,” said Vinluan, commander of the military’s Western Mindanao Command, on Sunday.
Sahidjuan was among five Abu Sayyaf militants who went to Tawi-Tawi by boat from Sulu, with their four Indonesian kidnap victims last Thursday.
Their boat capsized after it was battered by big waves, giving government troops the chance to rescue three of the four hostages – Arizal Kasta Miran, 30; Arsad Bin Dahlan, 41; and Andi Riswanto, 26.
Far right vs Islamists: a vicious circle of extremism in Southeast Asia?
The fourth, 15-year-old Mohd Khairuldin, was found by government troops in the same village where the gun battle took place.
The four hostages were among five Indonesians kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf on January 17 last year off Tambisan in Malaysia. One of the five was killed while trying to escape.
