Crackdown nets Abu Sayyaf supporters

Arroyo started a new drive against the kidnappers by enhancing military powers

ZAMBOANGA, Philippines -- The Philippine military says it has decimated the support base of the Abu Sayyaf kidnappers following the arrest of dozens of the group's members and supporters.

"The crackdown has had an adverse effect on the bandits who have been on the run because of the continuous military operation," Armed Forces Southern Command spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Danilo Servando told Reuters.

"Other than the pressure (from the military offensive), the Abu Sayyaf is now hard put to sustain their logistics with the decimation of their support structure," he added.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Friday gave the military and police wider powers of arrest in areas known to be Abu Sayyaf strongholds in the southern Philippines.

The Abu Sayyaf profess to be fighting for an independent Islamic state in the south, but appear to have been more preoccupied with kidnapping for ransom.

Servando said the military and police picked up five suspected members and supporters of the Abu Sayyaf on Basilan island on Tuesday, bringing to 61 the total number of people arrested since the crackdown started on Friday.

'Pond of supplies'

He said one of those picked up in separate raids by police and military was an ex-soldier suspected to be working as a spy for the guerrillas.

"We are draining their pond of supplies," Servando said.

The military said charges ranging from kidnapping, illegal detention and possession of firearms have been filed against several of those arrested.

The government has offered a reward of five million pesos (about $93,000) each for information leading to the arrest of an Abu Sayyaf commander and up to a million pesos for each member.

The Abu Sayyaf have been holding about 20 Filipino and three American hostages for weeks on Basilan, a mountainous island about three times the size of Singapore.

The group said last month it had beheaded one of the Americans, but there has been no no independent confirmation of the execution.