April 26, 2000, Bernama, Police Aircraft Join Search For Hostages, by Jackson Sawatan,
April 26, 2000, Reuters, Philippines seeks talks to free hostages
April 26, 2000, AsiaOne, The Sipadan Hostage Crisis - 2 big questions:
April 26, 2000, AsiaOne, 'Hostages can go once ransom is paid'
April 26, 2000, The Star [Malaysia] Hostages split into two groups,
April 26, 2000, The Star [Malaysia] Report: Eight hostages sighted,
April 26, 2000, The Star [Malaysia] Wildlife Dept rangers taken hostage named,
April 26, 2000, Agence France-Presse, Malaysian hostages may be segregated for separate negotiations,
April 26, 2000, Agence France-Presse, Relatives claims kidnappers want 2.6 million-dollar ransom,
April 26, 2000, Agence France-Presse, Caucasian hostages spotted on Philippine island,
April 26, 2000, New York Times, Confusion Reigns After Malay Resort Kidnapping, by Thomas Fuller,
April 26, 2000, The Singapore Straits Times, Malaysia faces tough choices in kidnap crisis,
April 26, 2000, The Singapore Straits Times, Abu Sayyaf: We abducted resort hostages, by Luz Baguioro,
April 26, 2000, AFP / The Straits Times, Resort island hostages in the Philippines: official,
April 26, 2000, Reuters, Philippines seeks talks to free hostages
23:13:00 ET
JOLO, Philippines, April 27 (Reuters) - The Philippines sought talks on Thursday with Islamic gunmen holding 21 hostages, including foreign tourists, while the military fine-tuned contingency rescue plans should
negotiations fail.
Officials said the hostages, abducted from a Malaysian diving resort on Sunday, were held in separate hideouts on Jolo island in the Sulu Sea, a stronghold of separatist Abu Sayyaf guerrillas 960 km (600 miles) south of the Philippine capital Manila.
Defence Secretary Orlando Mercado said the kidnap gang was a mixture of Abu Sayyaf rebels and former guerrillas turned bandit.
"We have a military contingency although our president (Joseph Estrada) has ordered us to negotiate," acting armed forces chief General Jose Calimlim said in a radio interview.
"We are looking at an early solution of this problem. The military is ready to do its job to resolve this quickly."
Estrada accepted an offer from former guerrilla leader Nur Misuari, now governor of a semi-autonomous Moslem region comprising four southern provinces, to negotiate for the release of the hostages, a presidential palace spokesman said.
Misuari, who was flying to Jolo later on Thursday, told Reuters he hoped to establish contact with an emissary from the hostage takers shortly.
The hostages in Jolo are 10 Malaysians, three Germans, two French, two South Africans, two Finns, one Lebanese and a Filipina.
A Malaysian newspaper, The Sun, quoted Misuari as saying the 10 Malaysians were being kept separately from the others and "could be released soon under separate negotiations."
Philippine officials said there had been no word on the possible release of any hostages.
Calimlim gave no details of the military plans but an armed forces spokesman told Reuters on Wednesday the military had mobilised air force, naval and ground units for a possible assault and rescue operation.
800 TO 1,000 DEPLOYED
Military sources said they had deployed two battalions -- around 800 to 1,000 men -- in the Sulu area.
Officials said they were still trying to pinpoint the exact location of the hostages, split up by their kidnappers to prevent detection and thwart any rescue attempt.
Calimlim said he did not know of any demands from the kidnappers but presidential palace sources in Manila said on Wednesday there had been seven demands, including a ransom of 30 million pesos ($720,000).
The nephew of the Filipina hostage told Reuters the kidnap gang wanted 10 million Malaysian ringgit ($2.6 million). He said they made the demand on Monday to owners of Sipadan beach resort in Malaysian Borneo, where the hostages were seized on Sunday.
Calimlim said the kidnap gang was the same group which abducted two Hong Kong nationals and a Malaysian in 1998 and held them for 15 weeks on Jolo before releasing them unharmed after payment of an unknown amount.
The military said the kidnappers, on reaching Jolo after travelling by sea from Malaysia, had handed the hostages over to a local guerrilla leader called "Commander Robot."
Robot was also part of the group behind the 1998 kidnapping, the military said.
The mountainous island of Jolo in the Sulu Sea has been a favourite haunt of pirates and bandits for centuries -- and a fertile ground for rebels.
The Abu Sayyaf, with a force estimated by the military at 1,000 men, is one of two groups fighting for an Islamic state in the south of the largely Roman Catholic country.
The other group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), is engaged in peace talks with Manila although it, too, clashes intermittently with the military.
--ABC
April 26, 2000, AsiaOne, The Sipadan Hostage Crisis - 2 big questions:
Why kidnap those on Malaysian soil?
BEFORE the kidnap of tourists in the island of Sipadan near Sabah this week, did you know about the regional terrorists group, Abu Sayyaf?
It became the main news on all the regional newspapers after 21 people were taken hostage in Sipadan, a resort island famous for its idyllic beaches.
And that is what the terrorists want.
To force the region and the international community to take note of their fight in the southern Philippines for an Islamic government.
By taking the hostages in a Malaysian island, the Islamic terrorists planned to rope Malaysia into their fight.
Malaysia's Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad, is a vocal regional leader who has called for the setting up of a pan-Asian security force in the region to maintain peace.
"The kidnapping incident is likely to push Malaysia for a long-term response through regional security cooperation to handle attempted Islamic expansion in southern Philippines," noted an influential US-based
intelligence gathering firm.
Why doesn't Malaysia storm the hideout?
THE hostages are being kept in the island of Tawi-Tawi, the New Straits Times reported today.
Despite knowing this important information, the Malaysians have yet to storm the site.
"As late as yesterday evening, Malaysian naval forces were ready and waiting to go after the terrorists, having identified their hideout," The Straits Times correspondent Brendan Pereira said.
But they were to move "only after the greenlight from the Philippine government" was given, he said.
The Malaysian government has to also battle the influence of the opposition Islamic party (Parti SeMalaysia Islam) which has been making inroads in the political arena.
THE ASEAN CODE
But Malaysia has not wavered from the principle that Asean should not interfere in the internal affairs of other member nations.
Malaysian leaders have been careful not to blame anyone for the incident, said Mr Pereira.
--AsiaOne
April 26, 2000, AsiaOne, 'Hostages can go once ransom is paid'
IF you pay the hostage takers money, the hostages can go free. A sister of one of the hostages has raised this possibility.
She told the Philippines Daily Inquirer that the management of the resort in Sipadan, where her brother worked, is in contact with the kidnappers. Her brother is among the 21 hostages taken on Sunday.
Ms Nida Rodriguez, 60, said the resort's management called her to say that the kidnappers had demanded money.
It is not clear how much the gunmen want.
The Inquirer said it confirmed with a cashier at the resort, Ms Hao Sim Kiu, that the management is negotiating with the kidnappers.
The ransom theory is baffling those who have been following the crisis.
The terrorists want an Islamic state in southern Philippines.
They have called for all symbols of Christianity, such as crosses, to be removed from the area.
But Philippine Foreign Minister Domingo Siazon said yesterday: "They have not made any contact."
April 26, 2000, Agence France-Presse, Malaysian hostages may be segregated for separate negotiations,
KUALA LUMPUR, April 26 (AFP) - 21:03 - Nine Malaysian hostages could have been separated from the 12 foreigners -- seized with them from a resort island and taken to the Philippines -- for separate negotiations, a Philippine official said Wednesday.
Nur Misuari, governor of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, told Malaysia's private television station TV3 in a telephone interview that eight of the 10 foreign tourists kidnapped had been spotted on Jolo island in the southern Philippines.
"They are now on the island itself in two villages," Nur Misuari said.
"There was information indicating that Malaysian hostages are being segregated in another place and there is speculation that they might be subject to separate negotiations or they might just send them back to Malaysia."
Nur Misuari was Wednesday appointed by Philippine President Joseph Estrada to spearhead negotiations with the captors.
Philippine Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado said earlier the captives were being held in the town of Talipao on Jolo island by Abu Sayyaf Muslim rebels, confirming for the first time the group's claim it was behind Sunday's kidnapping.
The kidnappers abducted three Germans, two French nationals, two South Africans, two Finns and a Lebanese woman as well as nine Malaysians and two Filipinos from the Malaysian resort island of Sipadan off Sabah on Sunday.
--AFP
April 26, 2000, The Star [Malaysia] Hostages split into two groups,
4:54 PM
KOTA KINABALU: The 21 hostages grabbed by an armed Filipino group from Sipadan on Easter Sunday are believed to have split into two groups, a Philippine government official said Wednesday.
He said the first group of eight hostages, comprising Caucasians and Asians, had been sighted at an area between Maimbung and Talipao municipalities on the island Sulu about 100 nautical miles from the southern Philippine city of Zamboanga.
He said government officials had managed to contact residents of the municipalities early Wednesday to get confirmation of the hostage sightings on Tuesday.
The second group of hostages are believed to have been taken to Basilan island, about 30 nautical miles from Zamboanga where the Abu Sayyaf group is entrenched.
The group, which is fighting for the separation of the southern Philippines is reported to have claimed responsibility for the hostage taking.
In Semporna, more than a hundred soldiers arrived to beef up security along the east coast of Sabah, four days after a Sipadan resort was raided and the hostages, including 10 foreigners, were abducted.
The Malaysian police said they have not made any contact with the hostage takers as of early Wednesday and they could not confirm the sighting.
--The Star
April 26, 2000, New York Times, Confusion Reigns After Malay Resort Kidnapping, by Thomas Fuller,
KUALA LUMPUR— From the comfort of his five-star hotel room here, Jim Murphy says he re-enacts the scene over and over in his head.
The gunmen yelling: "Move it, goddamn it. Move it." And his panicked reply: You can kill me but my wife is not going on that boat.
Somewhere in the Celebes Sea is the fate that Jim Murphy and his wife, Mary, escaped: six highly armed men continue to hold 21 hostages, all of them abducted from a tiny island off Borneo on Sunday night. The police revised the number of hostages to 21 Tuesday from the initial estimate of 20. They include employees of the Malaysian park service, a police officer, at least one Filipino hotel worker and 10 tourists: two Frenchmen, two Finns, three Germans, two South Africans and one Lebanese.
But more than 50 hours after the incident took place, details surrounding the kidnapping remain mired in confusion, with officials contradicting themselves as to the possible motives or whereabouts of the kidnappers.
On Monday, the Malaysian defense minister, Najib Tun Razak, said the government had found the kidnappers' "exact location." But the police chief of Sabah, the Malaysian state where the abduction took place, said Tuesday the government was not so sure.
"They are somewhere in the neighboring country," Mamat Talib, the police chief, said, referring to the Philippines, "but we cannot establish exactly where the hostages are." The police chief added that five people were being questioned in connection with the incident, some of them former employees of the Sipadan Island resort.
Confusion also surrounded the identity of the kidnappers. Muslim separatists in the Philippines, who on Tuesday morning initially claimed responsibility for the incident, subsequently issued a bizarre quasi-retraction. "I'm not saying that we are the ones," said Abu Ahmad, a spokesman for the rebel group, known as Abu Sayyaf. "I'm also not saying we are not the ones. Let's give the government a puzzle."
The tourists were staying on Sipadan Island, a favorite spot for divers about 30 kilometers (20 miles) off Borneo. Mr. Murphy, an amateur underwater photographer who works for Kodak in Australia, refused to board the two boats with the other captives. "I was thinking they were just going to dump us in the water," he said Tuesday. "My wife not only can't swim, she's deathly afraid of water. I knew she wouldn't have a shot if they threw her in 10 feet of water. She'd freak out." The captors, preoccupied with getting the other 21 hostages onto the boats, looked the other way. The Murphys ran into the forest and lay there for 10 hours until the sun came up the next morning.
Mr. Murphy said he believed the kidnappers were not run-of-the-mill sea pirates, a common scourge in the relatively lawless seas of the area. "If they were going to go for money they would have rifled through people's rooms," he said. "Everybody had cameras or video. A lot of people had underwater equipment." A Malaysian newspaper quoted an employee of the Sipadan resort as saying that the abductors had written "Abu Sayyaf" on the walls of the Wildlife Department office before leaving the island.
The Philippine government recently started a military offensive against the Abu Sayyaf group, who is fighting for an Islamic state in the southern Philippines. The group is currently holding close to 30 hostages in the southern Philippines and have demanded the release of Islamic militants held in U.S. prisons, including one believed to have been involved in the 1993 bomb attack on World Trade Center in New York. On Tuesday, a Philippine provincial governor offered a $730-dollar bounty for each member of the Abu Sayyaf group killed. The governor of Basilan, Wahab Akbar, also issued a "shoot-to-kill order" to his armed civilian followers for any rebel they see fleeing the government's military offensive, Agence France-Presse said.
Also Tuesday, Philippine forces rocketed Islamic rebel positions for the fourth day, hours after one of the people held by the guerrillas warned the army assault was endangering hostages' lives. "We have to go on with the operation," said a southern military commander, General Diomedio Villanueva. "What we are hitting is the periphery, the bunkers, to dislodge the terrorists guarding their main lair."
Earlier Tuesday, a local radio station broadcast an appeal from a hostage Catholic priest for the military to stop bombing the hideout of the Abu Sayyaf group on Basilan Island. The military said it had no confirmed casualty figures, but a Basilan provincial government spokesman, Hader Glang, said about 30 guerrillas had been killed in the four-day government offensive to try and rescue the hostages.
Meanwhile, Germany urged its citizens not to travel to Sabah. Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad said that the kidnapping would affect tourism in Sabah but not in the rest of the country. "Malaysia is very safe for tourists," he told the Bernama news agency. "We don't get this kind of things happening in Malaysia very often."
April 26, 2000, The Singapore Straits Times, Malaysia faces tough choices in kidnap crisis,
News Analysis by Brendan Pereira, Malaysia Correspondent,
WHEN Abu Sayyaf terrorists launched a raid on Sipadan Island and grabbed 21 hostages, they had only one goal in mind: To force their agenda in southern Philippines on the international community.
In a perverse way, they have succeeded.
Over the past 48 hours, their brazen act of kidnapping 12 foreign tourists and nine Malaysians has been the main news item from the region and around the world.
They have managed to drag a neighbouring country into their fight -- with President Joseph Estrada's government -- by committing a terrorist act on Malaysian soil, and retreating with the hostages to an island in Philippine waters.
This action is calculated to invite foreign pressure on the Philippine armed forces to cease their bombardment of Abu Sayyaf bases and also to enable the extremist group to retain a voice in the dialogue between Muslim rebels and the Estrada administration that is set to continue on May 2.
But there may be a spin-off to their act of madness. Analysts say that fears of the spread of further Muslim unrest from the Philippines and Indonesia to other parts of Asean may be the catalyst for a regional security grouping.
Stratfor, an influential United States-based intelligence-gathering firm, notes that while the kidnapping is unlikely to draw Malaysia into a mediating or military role in the southern Philippines, it is likely to spur Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to revisit the issue of a regional security body.
Late last year, the Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean) floated the idea of a regional crisis troika -- a team brought together to react to regional economic or security crises.
In December, the Malaysian leader promoted the need for a pan-Asian security force to maintain peace in the region. He suggested that China and Japan could play leading roles in the region.
While a unified security structure is likely years away, the kidnapping incident is likely to push Malaysia "to accelerate its push for a long-term response through regional security cooperation" to handle attempted Islamic expansion in southern Philippines, concludes Stratfor. For the moment, though, Malaysia is faced with tough choices.
It has to respond to the act of terrorism. However, the response will be tempered by a long-standing adherence to the principle of non-interference. All Malaysian leaders and senior police officers who commented on the kidnapping were careful not to blame anyone for the incident.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi made it clear that the Philippines could play a pivotal role in securing the release of the hostages.
As late as yesterday evening, Malaysian naval forces were ready and waiting to go after the terrorists, having identified their hideout. But their orders were simple: Move only after the green light from the Philippine government.
That Malaysia chooses to follow this path is predictable. Since its inception, Asean has followed the doctrine of not getting involved in the domestic, political or economic affairs of another state. In recent years, regional events have challenged that policy.
Some member nations, notably the Philippines, have started to question the wisdom of the doctrine, arguing that the instability of individual countries affects the security of the entire region.
The Mahathir administration, though, considers the principle of non-interference sacred.
There is another reason why Malaysia is unlikely to be drawn into any mediating role in the larger picture affecting the Abu Sayyaf group or any other Islamic fundamentalist groups in the region.
It does not support Islamic fundamentalism and is involved in a major battle at home not to concede any more ground to Parti Islam (PAS), an opposition party which did well at the general election.
Unlike the Nur Misuari-led Moro National Liberation Front that laid down its arms in 1996 after 24 years of guerilla warfare, Abu Sayyaf is an extremist group modelled after the mujahideen in Afghanistan. Some of its members studied or worked in the Middle East and have close ties to extremist groups there.
It is believed to number about 200. Kidnapping is not an unusual game plan for the group. On March 20, Abu Sayyaf rebels captured 70 hostages and demanded an end to military activities against the organisation.
Since then, its wish list has grown longer. It wants the removal of all Christian crosses in public places on the southern island of Basilan, a ban on all foreign fishing vessels around the island and the release of Muslim prisoners in the United States.
The authorities have continued their search-and-destroy operations. Faced with the possibility of elimination, the rebels upped the stakes on Sunday night, and forced a third party into a domestic conflict. Mr Kamarulnizam Abdullah of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia's Strategic and Security Studies Unit, says that now is an appropriate time to discuss further the idea of a regional crisis troika.
He says that members of the troika could be given a mandate by Asean to help resolve domestic difficulties that could cause instability in the region.
Under such an arrangement, the troika could help with negotiations between the government and separatist groups and prevent a breakdown in talks that leads usually to armed conflict and acts of terrorism.
He said: "I believe the time is right for Asean to look seriously at the need for such a mechanism."
Not everyone agrees with this thinking. A researcher at a government think-tank says that all problems in the region to-date have been resolved through bilateral discussions.
For example, the thorny issue of Muslim separatists crossing into Malaysia from southern Thailand after battles with Thai armed forces, was sorted out after talks between the prime ministers of both countries.
He also noted that during Dr Mahathir's recent visit to Indonesia, he gave an assurance that Malaysia had no interest in fermenting the separatist movement in Acheh but added that his government would be prepared to play any role to end violence and bloodshed.
"Bilateral discussions have always been the basis of solving problems in Asean. My feeling is that it will continue to be so despite the temptation to have other mechanisms, " said the researcher.
NO BLAME: KL's response to incident
FOR the moment, Malaysia is faced with tough choices. It has to respond to the act of terrorism.
However, the response will be tempered by a long-standing adherence to the principle of non-interference.
All Malaysian leaders and senior police officers who commented on the kidnapping were careful not to blame anyone for the incident.
April 26, 2000, The Singapore Straits Times, Abu Sayyaf: We abducted resort hostages, by Luz Baguioro, Philippines Correspondent,
But the Philippine authorities say the claim by radical Muslim group Abu Sayyaf cannot be verified yet
MANILA -- The Muslim extremist Abu Sayyaf group yesterday claimed responsibility for kidnapping 21 people from the Malaysian resort island of Sipadan and warned it would spring "more surprises" if the Philippine government refused to meet its demands.
But the Philippine authorities said they could not verify the claim.
They also suggested that the group might be seizing the issue to draw international attention to its cause, or using it as a ploy to get the military to call off the offensive on Basilan island where it has been holding 27 Filipino hostages since March 20.
"We do not have any confirmation yet that Abu Sayyaf is behind the abduction," said Southern Philippines military commander Diomedio Villanueva.
He said he had dispatched two Philippine Navy gunboats to comb the waters near Tawi-tawi and Basilan, two of the three big islands at the southern-most tip of the Philippines.
He also cited reports indicating that "the hostages are still in Malaysian territory" but did not elaborate.
Heavily-armed masked men seized the hostages, including 12 foreign tourists, from the diving resort off Sabah. They are believed to have been taken by boat towards Philippine waters. An Abu Sayyaf spokesman, Abu Ahmad, said in a radio interview yesterday morning that "our group is behind the abduction of the foreigners". He made no demand and refused to say where the hostages were.
"There are still a lot of surprises for the government ... if they continue to ignore us," he warned.
In a subsequent interview with CNN, Abu Ahmad tried to distance the fundamentalist group from Sunday's kidnapping, sparking speculation that the earlier claim was a bluff.
Abu Sayyaf -- the smaller but more radical of two groups fighting for a separate Muslim state in southern Philippines -- had previously sought the release of three terrorists in United States jails, including Ramzi Yousef, mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing.
Philippine Defence Secretary Orlando Mercado said yesterday that one of the two Finnish hostages in the Sipadan group was ill.
"We received information that a male Finnish national -- Risto Mirko Jahanen -- is reportedly ill with bleeding ulcers and badly in need of medicine," he said. The Philippine authorities suspect the abduction was intended to take the pressure off the main Abu Sayyaf camp, which has been under military attack since Saturday in a bid to rescue the 27 civilians. "The cause is still open to speculation, whether it is piracy, political or for ransom," Philippine Ambassador to Malaysia Jose Brillantes said on radio.
April 26, 2000, AFP / The Straits Times, Resort island hostages in the Philippines: official,
ZAMBOANGA (Philippines) -- Muslim gunmen who seized 21 hostages including 10 foreign tourists in a Malaysian island resort have taken their captives to the Sulu group of islands in the southern Philippines, the provincial governor Abdusakur Tan said on Wednesday.
"They are here,' Mr Tan told AFP by telephone from the provincial capital Jolo.
"They are probably with Galib Andang,' he said, referring to the local Abu Sayyaf commander, who is based in the town of Talipao on Jolo island, the largest of the 157 islands in the Sulu group.
He would not say how he got the information.
Mr Tan said he was scheduled to meet the deputy chief of the Philippine armed forces, Lieutenant-General Jose Calimlim, later on Wednesday "about the negotiations here'.
The 21 hostages, including 10 foreign tourists, were seized by six masked and heavily armed gunmen Sunday night from the tropical resort island of Sipadan off the Malaysian section of Borneo island.
The authorities said nine Malaysians, three Germans, two French, two South Africans, two Finns, two Filipinos and a Lebanese woman were taken captive.
Malaysian and Philippine troops have launched a joint search for the gunmen and their captives in border waters.
Abu Sayyaf, an Islamic separatist group fighting a guerilla war in the southern Philippines, claimed on Tuesday to have staged the kidnapping.
The Abu Sayyaf itself is under a four-day siege by government forces in the southern Philippine island of Basilan. Manila resorted to force after failing to secure the release of at least 27 other hostages taken by the group on Basilan last month. -- AFP
April 26, 2000, Agence France-Presse, Caucasian hostages spotted on Philippine island,
MANILA, April 26 (AFP) - 14:10 - The Caucasians among the 21 hostages abducted from a Malaysian resort have been seen with their captors in Jolo island in the southern Philippines, a regional official said Wednesday.
"Less than 10 are in Jolo," said Nur Misuari, governor of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao.
"Only the whites are there," he said on ABS-CBN television here. "I don't know where the others were taken."
Shortly afterwards Philippine Foreign Secretary Domingo Siazon confirmed that the 21 hostages had been taken to the Mindanao region.
Nine Malaysians, three Germans, two French nationals, two South Africans, two Finns, two Filipinos and a Lebanese woman were abducted on the resort island of Sipadan off Borneo late Sunday by gunmen who spoke a Muslim dialect of the southern Philippines.
"According to our sources, they are supposed to be somewhere in Mindanao," Siazon told reporters here.
"We have informed the Malaysian government and we have also informed the ambassadors of Finland, France and Germany," Siazon said.
"There is no military operation being planned right now," he added, stressing that "we are in a negotiation mode."
Siazon said the authorities were waiting for the kidnappers to contact them. Relatives of one of two Filipino hostages said earlier Wednesday that the gunmen have demanded 10 million ringgit (2.63 million dollars) from the resort operators.
"You have to understand also that this involves the safety of foreigners," Siazon said.
Manila "would have inputs also from these countries. We have to take into account some of their concerns."
The Abu Sayyaf, an Islamic separatist group fighting a guerrilla war in the southern Philippines, claimed on Tuesday to have staged the kidnapping.
--AFP
April 26, 2000, The Star [Malaysia] Report: Eight hostages sighted,
12:14 PM
KUALA LUMPUR: Eight of the 21 hostages grabbed by the armed Filipino group from Sipadan island were reported Wednesday to have been sighted in Sulu, about 100 nautical miles from the southern Philippine city of Zamboanga, early Tuesday morning.
Philippine Information Agency region nine director Leo Omoso said this unconfirmed report had been received by the military.
"Attempts are being made to contact the (armed) group to find out what they want," Omoso said.
The Malaysian police said they have not made any contact with the hostage takers as of early Wednesday and they could not confirm the sighting.
In Semporna, Sabah, more than a hundred soldiers arrived to beef up security along the east coast of Sabah, four days after a Sipadan resort was raided and the hostages, including 10 foreigners were abducted.
--The Star
April 26, 2000, Agence France-Presse, Relatives claims kidnappers want 2.6 million-dollar ransom,
PAGADIAN, Philippines, April 26 (AFP) - 13:32 - A Filipino relative of one of the 21 hostages abducted from a Malaysian island resort said Wednesday the kidnappers had demanded a 10 million-ringgit (2.63 million-dollar) ransom.
The ransom demand was relayed to the operators of the Sipadan resort who then discussed it with Malaysian police, said Roger Rodriguez, a nephew of resort worker Lucrecia Dablo who was among those kidnapped by armed men on Sunday night.
Philippine officials said Wednesday that the kidnappers have taken their captives to Jolo island in the southern Philippines.
The Abu Sayyaf, a Muslim group waging a separatist campaign in the southern Philippines, claimed on Tuesday to have staged the kidnapping.
Malaysian and Philippine troops have launched a joint search for the gunmen and their captives in border waters.
Rodriguez told AFP a Filipina co-worker of Dablo at the resort "called up Tuesday night to inform us that the kidnappers were demanding 10 million ringgits."
The resort operators discussed the ransom demand in a meeting with Malaysian police in the nearby Sabah port of Semporna, at which the Filipino resort worker was in attendance, he added.
Rodriguez said the ransom demand was relayed by way of a mobile phone used at the resort.
Dablo, one of the two Filipino hostages in the group, had been working as a receptionist at the resort for 10 years, relatives said.
The captives also include two French nationals, three Germans, two Finns, a Lebanese and two South Africans. The rest are Malaysians.
--AFP
April 26, 2000, The Star [Malaysia] Wildlife Dept rangers taken hostage named,
PETALING JAYA: The two Kota Kinabalu Wildlife Department rangers whose identities were not known earlier are Balakrishnan Nair and Basilius Jim.
A department official said they were assigned to Sipadan earlier this month to monitor wildlife there.
They had been expected back in Kota Kinabalu at the end of this week.
Four of the 21 hostages are Wildlife Department staff, with the other two, Zulkamain Hashim and Francis Masangkim, working at the Tawau branch.
Balakrishnan's wife, Stephanie Soimbin, 25, said her husband had been working for the department for more than five years.
The couple, who are both Sabahans, have three children aged between one and four.
--The Star
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