Jordanian and Filipino crewmen now held by another faction

Manila: A Jordanian journalist based in the United Arab Emirates who went missing in June, is still held by the Al Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf Group whose leaders he interviewed in Sulu, southern Philippines starting June 12, a newspaper said.

Baker Atyani, Southeast and East Asia bureau chief of Dubai-based Al Arabiya network, and his Filipino crewmen, Ramelito Vela and Rolando Letrero, were transferred to a faction of the Abu Sayyaf Group led by a certain Commander Sawadjaan, a senior police intelligence officer who was not named told Manila Times.

Sawadjaan has links with the mainstream Moro National Liberation Front, which had forged a pro-autonomy peace settlement with the Philippine government in 1997, said the officer.

Records also showed that Sawadjaan has been involved in kidnap-for-ransom activities that target foreigners in Western Mindanao, mostly targeting foreigners, said a source.

Earlier, military and police reports said that Atyani and his companions were held by Abu Sayyaf faction led by Commander Radullan Sahiron.

There were earlier reports that Atyani was already released, but he did not want to leave the Abu Sayyaf camp without his two Filipino companions.

Another conflicting report said that Atyani was released and was allowed to leave the Philippine backdoor, near the border of Malaysia.

The Abu Sayyaf Group has been blamed for kidnap-for-ransom, beheadings, bombings, and other terror activities in the south.

It was also blamed for the bombing of a commercial ferry that killed a hundred in Manila Bay in 2004.

It has links with Jemaah Islamiya, the Southeast Asian conduit of the Al Qaida terror network that was once led by the late Osama Bin Laden.