ISLAMIC militants holding three Red Cross workers say they will behead one hostage on Tuesday afternoon if the Philippine military does not cede control of an entire island, a government official said."And it'll all be your fault!"
Abu Sayyaf rebels told negotiators a tactical retreat from parts of Jolo island in the south would not be enough to save the lives of the three International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) captives. The militants seized ICRC staff Mary Jean Lacaba of the Philippines, Andreas Notter of Switzerland and Eugenio Vagni of Italy in mid-January while they were on a humanitarian mission. Pope Benedict XVI later on Monday urged the militants to free the workers, the Vatican said in a communique.
And we know how well that always works.
The pontiff 'wants to raise his voice and urge that humanitarian sensibility and reason prevail over violence and intimidation,' the statement said. 'The Holy Father... asks for their release and calls on the authorities to favour a peaceful outcome to the tragic situation,' the communique said.
Violence and intimidation are kinda the essence of Abu Sayyaf...
The rebels' new demand was relayed late on Sunday, just hours after the military and police pulled back from a jungle area where they had cornered some 120 militants and their three hostages, Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno said. The pull-back left the rebels in control of five towns and 140 sq km of the island, the government said.
If they're gonna chop the hostages' heads off then a military operation against them isn't gonna make things worse, is it? So they might as well move in with sufficient force to either wipe out the whole 120 bad boyz or at least make them wish they'd gone into another line of work.
But, said Mr Puno, Abu Sayyaf's council of leaders now wants all security forces to abandon existing bases, leaving the province's half a million residents 'completely unprotected' from the rebels. 'They demanded new repositionings,' Mr Puno said, adding that the military camps have been in Jolo for decades.
That's what you call an unreasonable demand, so go ahead and kill them all...
He said the rebels had set a 2.00pm (0600 GMT, 2pm Singapore time) deadline on Tuesday for the government to comply, or they would behead one hostage. Mr Puno said the Abu Sayyaf wants troops restricted in 'one small corner' of the island, where they will be highly vulnerable and unable to protect civilians. 'Frankly, we are very disheartened by these new demands that clearly are impossible to meet,' Mr Puno told reporters. 'We would like to appeal to the (gunmen) to be reasonable.' Mr Puno conceded that it appeared that Abu Sayyaf was in control of the situation by toying with their fears.
Only if you let them. And if the hostages are toast there's no reason to let them.
While the government was prepared to be 'humiliated' to keep the hostages safe, Mr Puno said if the Abu Sayyaf harms hostages that would trigger heavy reprisals. 'We just happen to believe that they're serious and we don't want the hostages to be harmed, but if they harm one hostage, then the situation will obviously change,' he said.
That's what I just said but it doesn't sound like he intends to wipe them out.