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Friday, September 16, 2005
New Zealand army chief visits Zambo
ZAMBOANGA CITY -- New Zealand army chief Major General Jeremiah Mateparae arrived in the southern Philippine port city of Zamboanga and met with senior Philippine military commanders.
Southern Command chief Lieutenant General Edilberto Adan met Metaparae in a closed-door briefing on the security situation in the troubled region where troops are battling members of the al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group and the communist New People's Army (NPA).
Metaparae did not speak to reporters but allowed journalists to photograph him inside the tightly guarded military base before the meeting.
"We briefed him about the situation in the southern Philippines," Philippine Army Colonel Domingo Tutaan said without elaborating further.
After the meeting, Adan presented to reporters captured kidnap leader Nurham Amil, who is also known as Commander Ramsey. He reportedly headed the notorious group called Pentagon gang.
The military and police tagged the group as behind the 2001 kidnapping of five Chinese engineers working on a government irrigation project in North Cotabato Province, and an Italian missionary snatched from his convent in Zamboanga del Sur.
Amil was heavily guarded when presented to reporters and local and military officials said he is one of the country's most wanted terror leader. Government has put up a bounty of P500,000 for his capture.
Philippine Army chief Lieutenant General Hermogenes Esperon said Amil was nabbed late Wednesday at a military checkpoint in Leon Postigo town in Zamboanga del Norte after special forces soldiers tracked him down.
Esperon said the former Moro rebel leader would be handed over to the police. (Sun.Star Zamboanga/Sunnex)
(September 16, 2005 issue)
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