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Monday, April 14, 2003
Sayyaf kidnaps businesswoman
ZAMBOANGA -- A female Chinese-Filipino trader was abducted on Sunday by guerrillas of the Abu Sayyaf kidnapping gang in an island in the south, the regional police chief said.
Five gunmen seized Gertrudes Tan as she was on her way to a mosque in the island of Siasi, 980 kilometers from Manila, said Chief Superintendent Acmad Omar.
The gunmen then sped off with their captive to the nearby island of Jolo, a known stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf, which is linked by Washington and Manila to the al-Qaeda network of terror mastermind Osama bin Laden.
Police set up roadblocks in known haunts of the Abu Sayyaf in an attempt to catch the kidnappers, said Omar.
In another development, soldiers raided a hideout of the Abu Sayyaf in Maimbung town, Jolo island, about 940 kilometers (583 miles) from Manila, on Saturday and recovered five rifles and assorted ammunition, a military report said.
However, the Abu Sayyaf members escaped by fleeing in a motorboat.
The heavily armed Abu Sayyaf has been abducting foreigners, Christians and ethnic Chinese and ransoming them for millions of dollars for more than a decade.
They are believed to still be holding as many as five Filipinos in the jungles of Jolo island. (AFP)
(April 14, 2003 issue)
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