Gunmen seize sisters filming Philippine farmers
Source: Agencies |
June 24, 2013, Monday
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SUSPECTED al-Qaida-linked gunmen have abducted two Filipino sisters who traveled to a dangerous mountainous area in the southern Philippines to work on a film about Muslim farmers, police and military officials said yesterday.
Nadjoua and Linda Bansil were taken by about 10 gunmen on Saturday in Sulu Province's Patikul town where they filmed coffee farmers. At least three companions of the sisters, who were in a van, fled on a motorcycle or were left behind by the gunmen, Patikul police chief Christopher Gutierrez said.
"We're trying to track down the abductors and the victims and possibly launch a rescue operation with the help of the military," Gutierrez said.
Marine Colonel Jose Cenabre said the gunmen belong to the Abu Sayyaf, a group notorious for ransom kidnappings, beheadings and other atrocities, but Gutierrez said police were still checking if the abductors were from an allied group of young gunmen behind several kidnappings.
Gutierrez said the women reportedly visited Mount Sinumaan, a mountainous area where the Abu Sayyaf maintains a camp, and were on their way back to the provincial capital of Jolo when they were stopped.
The sisters were born in Algeria from an Algerian mother and a Filipino father but grew up in the Philippines.
Abu Sayyaf militants have been holding a number of hostages in the jungles of Sulu, including two European birdwatchers and a Jordanian journalist who were kidnapped last year. Sulu is a predominantly Muslim province about 950 kilometers south of Manila.
Veteran Jordanian TV journalist Baker Atyani and his two Filipino crewmen were kidnapped last June by Abu Sayyaf militants whom they had sought to interview in Patikul's jungles.
His two Filipino companions were freed in February but Atyani, who gained prominence for interviewing Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan a few months before the September 11, 2001, attacks, remains in captivity, police say.
Birdwatchers Ewold Horn of the Netherlands and Lorenzo Vinciguerra of Switzerland are also believed to be held in Patikul by the Abu Sayyaf, police say.
Meanwhile, about six gunmen seized teacher Alrasid Rojas in a predominantly Muslim coastal village in southern Zamboanga city on Saturday and took him away by speedboat. Government forces have launched a search in nearby areas, including Basilan island, where Abu Sayyaf gunmen have a presence.
Nadjoua and Linda Bansil were taken by about 10 gunmen on Saturday in Sulu Province's Patikul town where they filmed coffee farmers. At least three companions of the sisters, who were in a van, fled on a motorcycle or were left behind by the gunmen, Patikul police chief Christopher Gutierrez said.
"We're trying to track down the abductors and the victims and possibly launch a rescue operation with the help of the military," Gutierrez said.
Marine Colonel Jose Cenabre said the gunmen belong to the Abu Sayyaf, a group notorious for ransom kidnappings, beheadings and other atrocities, but Gutierrez said police were still checking if the abductors were from an allied group of young gunmen behind several kidnappings.
Gutierrez said the women reportedly visited Mount Sinumaan, a mountainous area where the Abu Sayyaf maintains a camp, and were on their way back to the provincial capital of Jolo when they were stopped.
The sisters were born in Algeria from an Algerian mother and a Filipino father but grew up in the Philippines.
Abu Sayyaf militants have been holding a number of hostages in the jungles of Sulu, including two European birdwatchers and a Jordanian journalist who were kidnapped last year. Sulu is a predominantly Muslim province about 950 kilometers south of Manila.
Veteran Jordanian TV journalist Baker Atyani and his two Filipino crewmen were kidnapped last June by Abu Sayyaf militants whom they had sought to interview in Patikul's jungles.
His two Filipino companions were freed in February but Atyani, who gained prominence for interviewing Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan a few months before the September 11, 2001, attacks, remains in captivity, police say.
Birdwatchers Ewold Horn of the Netherlands and Lorenzo Vinciguerra of Switzerland are also believed to be held in Patikul by the Abu Sayyaf, police say.
Meanwhile, about six gunmen seized teacher Alrasid Rojas in a predominantly Muslim coastal village in southern Zamboanga city on Saturday and took him away by speedboat. Government forces have launched a search in nearby areas, including Basilan island, where Abu Sayyaf gunmen have a presence.
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