Filipino rebels free American but hold her son
Source: Agencies |
October 4, 2011, Tuesday
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MUSLIM militants freed a Filipino-American woman after 2 1/2 months of captivity in the jungles of the southern Philippines but are still holding her 14-year-old son and another relative, authorities said yesterday.
Gerfa Yeatts Lunsmann was dropped off by boat late on Sunday at a wharf and walked to nearby Maluso township on southern Basilan Island, where she was picked up by a patrolling police team, said military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Randolph Cabangbang.
Lunsmann was "physically healthy" but visibly traumatized by her ordeal and was worried that her son remained in captivity, Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo said. She did not reply at times when people tried to talk to her or ask her questions, he said.
Lunsmann appeared gaunt and worried, clasping her hands, when she appeared before reporters with Philippine officials and FBI agents. She was not allowed to talk and was later flown to Manila, where she underwent a medical checkup.
Suspected Abu Sayyaf militants snatched Lunsmann, her son and her nephew on July 12 while they were vacationing with relatives on an island near southern Zamboanga city. In a July 17 cellphone call to the captives' relatives in Virginia, the United States, that was traced to Basilan, the hostage-takers demanded a huge ransom, according to Philippine officials.
Robredo said the kidnappers had talked with Lunsmann's family in the United States and at one time allowed her to talk on the phone as proof that she was alive.
The US and Philippine governments did not pay any ransom for her release, Robredo said, but added he was unaware if any private group paid for her freedom.
Lunsmann, a 41-year-old veterinarian who lives in Virginia, was born to a Muslim family near Zamboanga. She was adopted by an American couple as a child and grew up in the US. She has visited her Philippine home province at least five times before, police said.
Ransom kidnappings have long been a problem in the impoverished region and are blamed mostly on the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf, a group also notorious for beheadings and bombings.
Gerfa Yeatts Lunsmann was dropped off by boat late on Sunday at a wharf and walked to nearby Maluso township on southern Basilan Island, where she was picked up by a patrolling police team, said military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Randolph Cabangbang.
Lunsmann was "physically healthy" but visibly traumatized by her ordeal and was worried that her son remained in captivity, Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo said. She did not reply at times when people tried to talk to her or ask her questions, he said.
Lunsmann appeared gaunt and worried, clasping her hands, when she appeared before reporters with Philippine officials and FBI agents. She was not allowed to talk and was later flown to Manila, where she underwent a medical checkup.
Suspected Abu Sayyaf militants snatched Lunsmann, her son and her nephew on July 12 while they were vacationing with relatives on an island near southern Zamboanga city. In a July 17 cellphone call to the captives' relatives in Virginia, the United States, that was traced to Basilan, the hostage-takers demanded a huge ransom, according to Philippine officials.
Robredo said the kidnappers had talked with Lunsmann's family in the United States and at one time allowed her to talk on the phone as proof that she was alive.
The US and Philippine governments did not pay any ransom for her release, Robredo said, but added he was unaware if any private group paid for her freedom.
Lunsmann, a 41-year-old veterinarian who lives in Virginia, was born to a Muslim family near Zamboanga. She was adopted by an American couple as a child and grew up in the US. She has visited her Philippine home province at least five times before, police said.
Ransom kidnappings have long been a problem in the impoverished region and are blamed mostly on the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf, a group also notorious for beheadings and bombings.
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