wrbones
05-17-03, 12:46 PM
http://www.inq7.net/brk/2003/may/17/brkpol_3-1.htm
2 Abu Sayyaf
hostages recovered
Posted: 11:23 AM (Manila Time) | May 17, 2003
By Fe Zamora
INQ7.net with Agence France-Presse
THE two remaining Abu Sayyaf hostages were recovered by government troops in Patikul town, Sulu province around 8:30 a.m. Saturday, a military information officer said.
Flora Montolo and Norie Bendijo, both members of the Jehovah's Witness, were safe at the Marines camp on Jolo island, according to Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Lucero.
Their release came a day after Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes said an RP-US joint war exercise would push through in Sulu.
The Abu Sayyaf has threatened to conduct suicide bombings against US troops if they set foot in Sulu, a terrorist stronghold.
Brigadier General Alexander Aleo, the island's military chief said they were being taken to the military camp on Jolo while troops continue operations against the Abu Sayyaf. He refused to elaborate.
The two women were among six Jehovah's Witnesses abducted by the Abu Sayyaf in Jolo in August last year while they were selling cosmetics and food supplements.
Two men among the group were beheaded by the Muslim kidnapping group, while two other woman managed to escape during a rebel firefight with the military last month.
The Abu Sayyaf are a Muslim rebel group that has been kidnapping Christians and foreigners in the south for over a decade, demanding hefty ransom payments for their release and sometimes beheading their captives.
Both Washington and Manila have linked the Abu Sayyaf to the al-Qaeda network of terror mastermind Osama bin Laden.
Several hundred US Special Forces troops last year trained Filipino forces hunting an Abu Sayyaf unit on the southern island of Basilan, a deployment credited with helping to flush out rebels holding two American missionaries hostage on the island.
2 Abu Sayyaf
hostages recovered
Posted: 11:23 AM (Manila Time) | May 17, 2003
By Fe Zamora
INQ7.net with Agence France-Presse
THE two remaining Abu Sayyaf hostages were recovered by government troops in Patikul town, Sulu province around 8:30 a.m. Saturday, a military information officer said.
Flora Montolo and Norie Bendijo, both members of the Jehovah's Witness, were safe at the Marines camp on Jolo island, according to Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Lucero.
Their release came a day after Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes said an RP-US joint war exercise would push through in Sulu.
The Abu Sayyaf has threatened to conduct suicide bombings against US troops if they set foot in Sulu, a terrorist stronghold.
Brigadier General Alexander Aleo, the island's military chief said they were being taken to the military camp on Jolo while troops continue operations against the Abu Sayyaf. He refused to elaborate.
The two women were among six Jehovah's Witnesses abducted by the Abu Sayyaf in Jolo in August last year while they were selling cosmetics and food supplements.
Two men among the group were beheaded by the Muslim kidnapping group, while two other woman managed to escape during a rebel firefight with the military last month.
The Abu Sayyaf are a Muslim rebel group that has been kidnapping Christians and foreigners in the south for over a decade, demanding hefty ransom payments for their release and sometimes beheading their captives.
Both Washington and Manila have linked the Abu Sayyaf to the al-Qaeda network of terror mastermind Osama bin Laden.
Several hundred US Special Forces troops last year trained Filipino forces hunting an Abu Sayyaf unit on the southern island of Basilan, a deployment credited with helping to flush out rebels holding two American missionaries hostage on the island.