Sayyaf urged: Release all hostages

MANILA, Philippines - Sulu Army commander Col. Allan Arrojado called on the Abu Sayyaf yesterday to free   their remaining captives as troops are relentlessly hunting them down.

“We have been telling them (Abu Sayyaf) that if they don’t want war, they must release all their hostages,” he said.

Arrojado said the Abu Sayyaf freed eight- year-old Jewel Mariel Nique after three months of captivity due to increased military pressure.

The girl was among the 10 people that the terrorists were holding hostage, he added.

Four gunmen snatched Nique from the family grocery store in Ulutanga, Zambaonga Sibugay province last July 25.

She was released at Jolo Wharf at about 2:30 p.m. the other day.

Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and Armed Forces chief Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang were in Sulu yesterday to assess the progress of the law enforcement operations against the Abu Sayyaf.

Two brigades of troops and special forces are deployed in Sulu to hunt down the Abu Sayyaf kidnappers of Germans Stefan Victor Okone and Herike Diesen.

Gazmin said Abu Sayyaf is now on the run and that troops have already restricted their movement.

“Slowly they are being isolated,” he said.

The days of their chieftain Radulan Sahiron  are now numbered, he added.

Gazmin flew to Sulu with an order from  President Aquino for the military to eliminate once and for all the kidnapping menace in Sulu.