Moro Muslims kidnap 9 in Phillipines

Another article of personal interest. These MILF terrorists
are the same ones that attacked us when we sailed through the
Sulu Sea decades ago -- they've been at it a long time indeed and are
particularly vicious and sadistic murderers.

- Jeff

--

Saturday - November 30, 2002

Muslim guerrillas kidnap nine, kill one in southern Philippines

http://news.yehey.com/news3.asp?c=11&i=47659

11/28/2002 2:45:00 PM
Source : AFP

Muslim separatist guerrillas killed one and kidnapped nine people during a
raid in a remote southern Philippine community last week, police and
military sources said Thursday.

Sources said members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) attacked a
village near the town of Magsaysay in Lanao del Norte town on November 16.

They burned a house owned by a convert to Islam, and gunned him down when he
tried to stop them. Nine other members of the man's household were taken as
hostages, the sources said.

The captives were believed taken to a rebel stronghold in a nearby province
and the MILF members demanded some 50,000 pesos (about 1,000 dollars) in
ransom.

The incident was kept secret from the local press as authorities negotiated
for the captives' release. Provincial governor Imelda Dimaporo and police
officials later secured their freedom without any ransom changing hands, the
sources said.

The MILF is the country's largest Muslim separatist group. It signed a
ceasefire pact with Manila last year paving the way for negotiations.

Meanwhile, unidentified gunmen also kidnapped a Filipino-Chinese couple in
Lanao del Norte early this week, the military said.

Sonny Chua and his wife Emily were aboard a truck when the suspects waylaid
their vehicle and forcibly took them hostages.

"We received the report and police and soldiers were immediately sent to
search and rescue the victims," regional Army spokesman Major Johnny Macanas
told reporters.

He said soldiers had recovered the abandoned truck of the couple, but the
fate of the hostages was unknown.

"We still don't know what happened to them. Authorities are closely
coordinating with the victims' family," Macanas said.

Muslim Abu Sayyaf rebels are also holding hostage three Indonesian sailors
and four Filipina Christian preachers elswhere in the southern Philippines.

The fresh spate of kidnappings came a day after the national police reported
that kidnapping cases in the Philippines dropped 32 percent in the 10 months
to October from the previous year to just 62 reported cases.