7 Indonesian sailors abducted off south Philippines

By Ainur Rohmah

TUBAN, Indonesia (AA) - Indonesia confirmed Friday that seven of its citizens were kidnapped from a tugboat by gunmen off the Philippines’ troubled south in the latest hijacking in the Sulu Sea.

Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi told a press conference, “on the afternoon of June 23, we received confirmation that our citizens were taken hostage.”

Kompas.com also reported her as saying that six of the tugboat’s 13 crew members had been released after the hijackings off the southern Philippine island province of Sulu, and were headed back to Indonesia.

Sulu is a stronghold of the Daesh-affiliated Abu Sayyaf militant group that had a role in recent kidnappings of Indonesian and Malaysian sailors.

Marsudi said one group of assailants abducted three crew members from the tugboat Monday afternoon, before a second group snatched another four.

"Indonesia’s government strongly condemns the recurrence of its citizens being taken hostage by armed groups in the southern Philippines. The incident is the third time. This can not be tolerated," detik.com quoted her as saying.