TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Govt intensifies efforts to rescue abducted sailors
Change Size
Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi (second left) and Army Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) chief Lt. Gen. Edy Rahmadi (left) accompany four former hostages at the Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in Jakarta in May. (Tempo/Imam Sukamto)
J
akarta has intensified coordination with its foreign missions in the Philippines and Malaysia after three Indonesian sailors were kidnapped by suspected Abu Sayyaf militants, a minister has said.
"The Ministry is coordinating with the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, the Consulate in Tawau, the Embassy in Manila and the Consulate in Davao," Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said in a press conference in Jakarta on Monday.
The three Indonesian sailors were on board the LLD 113/5/F fishing boat sailing in Felda Sahabat, Lahad Datu, Malaysia, when five armed militants ambushed them on July 9. There were seven crewmen aboard the Malaysian-flagged boat but the militants released the other four.
One of the four freed sailors is an Indonesian citizen, Foreign Minister spokesperson Arrmanatha Nasir said, adding that the authorities were still looking into the nationality of the other three.
Retno said the hostages were taken to Tawi-Tawi province in the southern Philippines, an area known to be dominated by the Abu Sayyaf group.
Retno did not confirm if the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group, linked to the Islamic State (IS) militant group, was responsible for the latest abduction.
“The identity [of the kidnappers] is becoming clearer,” she said, without elaborating further. (ary)
