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| Southeast Asia |
| Abu Sayyaf blames Manila for deaths |
| 2002-09-27 |
| The Abu Sayyaf Muslim rebel group has accused the Philippines' government of sacrificing the lives of two hostages in an attempt to justify its part in the US war on terrorism. In the first public pronouncement by the Abu Sayyaf for several months, their leader, Khadafi Janjalani, made a statement broadcast on a local radio station in the southern Philippines. Mr Janjalani blamed the government for the killing in June of two hostages being held by the Abu Sayyaf. One was Martin Burnham, an American Christian missionary. The other was Ediborah Yap, a Filipino nurse. "We have no control over our own actions. Everything we do is in response to something someone else does. If we kidnap somebody and kill them, that's somebody else's fault. If we kidnap them and they get killed when the government tries to rescue them, that's not our fault, either. The Abu Sayyaf leader said the two would still be alive if the government had accepted what he called a negotiated settlement, which presumably means if the government had paid a ransom. "Just do what we tell you, and nobody gets hurt... Well, not too many people..." |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |