Three Malaysian hostages rescued in the
southern Philippines
JOLO, Philippines, Oct 25 (AFP)
- Philippine troops on Wednesday rescued three Malaysian hostages after a fierce firefight
with their Muslim Abu Sayyaf guerrilla captors in the southern Philippines, the military
said.
Dive resort manager Mohamed
Noor Sulaiman, 43, divemaster Joseph Ongkinoh, 40, and contractor Kan Wei Chong, 35, were
recovered in a village on the foothills of Mount Mahala, a rebel stronghold in the
outskirts of Talipao town on Jolo island.
Troops stormed the area early
Wednesday, triggering a running gunbattle that lasted for about an hour, the military
said.
The raid left American Jeffrey
Schilling and Filipino Roland Ullah as the only hostages left in Abu Sayyaf custody.
The leader of the Abu Sayyaf
unit, Titing Aggah Noman, which held the Malaysians was believed killed in the fighting
after he was seen by the freed captives being dragged away by his comrades, armed forces
spokesman Brigadier General Generoso Senga said.
"The Malaysians are in
good condition, except for some contusions arising from weeks of being dragged (around) by
the rebels," in Jolo's rugged jungle terrain, Senga told reporters.
"On behalf of the family
of the Malaysians I would like to thank the military," said Malaysian ambassador
Mohammad Arshad when told of the news.
The freed captives, who had
spent 46 days in Abu Sayyaf hands, were taken to an army brigade camp in Jolo and later
flown out of the island for nearby Zamboanga city, where they are to be examined by
doctors.
An AFP reporter said the three
looked haggard and were bearded as they were led into the waiting helicopters accompanied
by army Colonel Romeo Tolentino, whose men led the rescue.
Abu Sayyaf gunmen raided the
dive resort of Pandanan off Malaysian Sabah on September 10 and abducted the three
Malaysians.
Ullah, the Filipino captive,
was the only one left from the original batch of Abu Sayyaf hostages who were seized from
the Malaysian resort island of Sipadan, near Pandanan, on April 23. Twenty others,
including 10 western tourists, were ransomed off for millions of dollars.
The US hostage, Schilling,
voluntarily walked into the Abu Sayyaf camp on August 28, the same day the last of the
European hostages from the Sipadan group were freed.
The rebels had also abducted 12
Filipino Christian preachers and two French television journalists, all of whom had been
freed after the rescue was launched in September.
Angered by the Abu Sayyaf's
kidnapping spree which had scared away foreign investors and embarrassed his government,
President Joseph Estrada dispatched 5,000 troops to Jolo on September 16 to destroy the
rebels and extricate the hostages.
About 143 rebels, five soldiers
and three government militias have died since the assault was launched, the military said
Wednesday.
Some 125 rebels have also been
captured while 106 others have voluntarily surrendered after troops pounded rebel lairs
with mortars and air raids, which had also displaced more than 82,000 villagers --
one-fifth of Jolo's population.
Senga said Estrada, who is
visiting the central Philippines, has been informed of the safe rescue of the Malaysians.
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