thedrifter
01-11-06, 05:39 AM
Marines rescue comrade seized by communist rebels (2:15 p.m.)
Sun Star
MANILA -- Marines safely rescued a comrade at the Manila domestic airport on Wednesday while he was about to be secretly moved by his communist guerrilla captors to a southern province, officials said.
Intelligence agents grabbed Sergeant Marlon Oronan, who was seized on November 23, but did not engage his captors to avoid a bloody clash at the crowded airport, said marine chief of staff Colonel Orlando de Leon in a news conference, where the freed captive was presented.
The captors managed to escape.
"There were a lot of people at the domestic airport," de Leon said.
"We made sure nobody knew what was happening for security reasons," he added.
Military officials learned that the rebels were preparing to release Oronan, somewhere in the southern Mindanao region, but decided to rescue him after tracking him down, de Leon said.
Oronan, 39, was seized from his house in Guagua town, apparently after the rebels mistook him for an intelligence agent involved in counterinsurgency operations.
Oronan, who belongs to a unit fighting Muslim rebels in the south, was on leave at the time.
Military officials once reported that he had been killed by his captors.
Oronan, still looking dazed by the sudden turn of events, said he was treated well by his captors, who even offered him fare money prior to his planned release. (AP)
Ellie
Sun Star
MANILA -- Marines safely rescued a comrade at the Manila domestic airport on Wednesday while he was about to be secretly moved by his communist guerrilla captors to a southern province, officials said.
Intelligence agents grabbed Sergeant Marlon Oronan, who was seized on November 23, but did not engage his captors to avoid a bloody clash at the crowded airport, said marine chief of staff Colonel Orlando de Leon in a news conference, where the freed captive was presented.
The captors managed to escape.
"There were a lot of people at the domestic airport," de Leon said.
"We made sure nobody knew what was happening for security reasons," he added.
Military officials learned that the rebels were preparing to release Oronan, somewhere in the southern Mindanao region, but decided to rescue him after tracking him down, de Leon said.
Oronan, 39, was seized from his house in Guagua town, apparently after the rebels mistook him for an intelligence agent involved in counterinsurgency operations.
Oronan, who belongs to a unit fighting Muslim rebels in the south, was on leave at the time.
Military officials once reported that he had been killed by his captors.
Oronan, still looking dazed by the sudden turn of events, said he was treated well by his captors, who even offered him fare money prior to his planned release. (AP)
Ellie