Kidnapped Americans allowed to call kin
Source: Agencies |
July 18, 2011, Monday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
Suspected Abu Sayyaf militants holding an American woman and her son in the southern Philippines allowed them to talk briefly to their family in the United States as proof they were alive and to press a ransom demand, two security officials said yesterday.
The cellphone call to the US was traced from southern Basilan province, where Abu Sayyaf gunmen were suspected to have brought Philippine-born US citizen Gerfa Yeatts Lunsmann, her 14-year-old son and 19-year-old Filipino nephew after seizing them at gunpoint on Tuesday from a nearby island village, the two senior Philippine officials said.
Government forces have been deployed to ensure the captives are not moved far from the mountainous area where they believe up to 100 Abu Sayyaf militants and allied gunmen were holding the hostages, one of the officials said.
Kidnappings for ransom 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.
US-backed offensives have weakened the group, which is blacklisted by Washington as a terrorist organization, but it remains a key security threat.
Mayor Celso Lobregat of southern Zamboanga City said without elaborating earlier that US authorities have informed Philippine officials that the kidnappers called the captives' family and demanded money.
Lunsmann, a 41-year-old veterinarian who lives in Virginia was vacationing with relatives when they were snatched, Khu said.
The cellphone call to the US was traced from southern Basilan province, where Abu Sayyaf gunmen were suspected to have brought Philippine-born US citizen Gerfa Yeatts Lunsmann, her 14-year-old son and 19-year-old Filipino nephew after seizing them at gunpoint on Tuesday from a nearby island village, the two senior Philippine officials said.
Government forces have been deployed to ensure the captives are not moved far from the mountainous area where they believe up to 100 Abu Sayyaf militants and allied gunmen were holding the hostages, one of the officials said.
Kidnappings for ransom 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.
US-backed offensives have weakened the group, which is blacklisted by Washington as a terrorist organization, but it remains a key security threat.
Mayor Celso Lobregat of southern Zamboanga City said without elaborating earlier that US authorities have informed Philippine officials that the kidnappers called the captives' family and demanded money.
Lunsmann, a 41-year-old veterinarian who lives in Virginia was vacationing with relatives when they were snatched, Khu said.
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