| PHILIPPINE
EMBASSY TO VERIFY DEATH REPORTS KUALA LUMPUR, May 3 (Bernama) -- The Philippine embassy here declined to
confirm or deny news reports that two of the 21 captives held by an armed group on Jolo
island in southern Philippines are dead.
Ambassador Jose Brillantes said today he was still trying to verify the reports from his
government.
"We want to know the source of the information," he said when contacted by
Bernama here.
Brillantes said he had directed his staff to verify the reports from "all
sides".
He was commenting on news reports from Manila today that two of the kidnap victims were
found dead after clashes between government troops and guerrillas.
However, there has been no confirmation yet on the reports.
The 21 people, including 10 Malaysians, were kidnapped by the armed group from Sipadan
island off Sabah on April 23.
The other captives are three Germans, two French nationals, two South Africans, two Finns,
one Lebanese and a Filipina.
An earlier Reuters report from Manila quoted a military spokesman as saying that no
independent confirmation was available on the report that a white woman and a white man
had died.
The report quoted the spokesman as telling the Philippine ABS-CBN TV station that the Abu
Sayyaf militant group, which was behind the kidnapping, had confirmed that two Caucasians
-- a man and a woman died.
The fundamentalist Abu Sayyaf is one of two Muslim groups fighting for a separate Islamic
state in southern Philippines.
However, Reuters in its latest report from Manila quoted Sulu Province Governor Abdusakur
Tan as saying that all the 21 captives are alive.
Meanwhile, Moro National Liberation Front Information Chief Ibrahim Omar when contacted by
Bernama in Zamboanga in southern Philippines today said he too could not confirm reports
that two of the victims were dead.
"We have sent someone to Jolo island to confirm," he added.
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