Abu Sayyaf men, captives sighted in Tawi-Tawi area

Abu Sayyaf bandits and their three recent foreign captives were reportedly seen in Tawi-Tawi, the southernmost part of the Philippines, said police in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) who quoted witnesses.

The Abu Sayyaf bandits were onboard two speedboats near Turtle Island in Tawi-Tawi, said the police. "We are now receiving reports from the field that the armed men who abducted the three were Abu Sayyaf members and the alleged leader is a certain Lajib," said Navy spokesman Capt. Geronimo Malabanan.

Malabanan did not provide details whether Lajib's group was based in Basilan or Jolo.

Malabanan said Philippine Air Force aircraft are hovering the area in search for the victims and the abductors.

On April 11, the Abu Sayyaf group seized Indonesian Sam Walter; Malaysians Wong Sien Nung and Toh Chien Tieng who were aboard M/L Ocean 2 near Linkian island.

On April 10, 53 inmates, majority of them belong to the hostage-taking group, escaped from the provincial jail in Basilan.

In April 2000, the Abu Sayyaf Grouo took 21 mostly foreign tourists in a resort in Siapdan, Malaysia, The group took the hostages to Jolo, Sulu, and were later freed after non government organizations in Libya, Europe, and Malaysia gave an estimated $ 25 million ransom payment.

Meanwhile, President Gloria Arroyo raised to P 10 million ($ 178,571) the reward for any information that will lead to the capture of Khadafy Janjalani, the chieftain of the hostage-taking Abu Sayyaf Group.

"President Arroyo's offer of a higher reward for Janjalani's capture is a gesture that manifests the government's firm resolve to put an end to the Abu Sayyaf menace," said Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, Director General Hermogenes Ebdane in a conference in Olongapo City, central Luzon.

"I have mobilised all intelligence units in Mindanao to exert more effort to capture Janjalani," said Ebdane. Ebdane also instructed all police regional directors operating the southern region to press the manhunt for the wanted terrorist.

Ebdane also ordered all commanders to upgrade security measures on vital installations and critical infrastructure to thwart any bomb threats by the Abu Sayyaf and other local terrorist organisations.

The government has stepped up attacks against the Abu Sayyaf, a terror group linked to the Jemaah Islamiyah, the alleged Southeast Asian conduit of the Al Qaida terror network.

Authorities had arrested six suspected Abu Sayyaf members in Metro Manila on March 30.

A joint police and military operation also resulted in the death of a top ranking Abu Sayyaf leader and his five other companions in Basilan, in the south in early April.