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| Southeast Asia |
| Abu Sayyaf may grab new hostages |
| 2002-06-11 |
| The Abu Sayyaf rebels may seize new hostages in a bid to slow down the search-and-destroy operations against them in western Mindanao, warned the Philippine military. The bandits lost the last of their captives in a firefight last Friday in which US hostage Gracia Burnham was rescued while her husband Martin and Filipino nurse Ediborah Yap were killed, the Philippine Star reported yesterday. The area's army commander, Alexander Yapching, said the military was urging residents of the Sirawai area to be vigilant and to inform the authorities about suspicious groups lurking there. 'I instructed our company to conduct an information drive in the villages... We believe that will be part of their way of getting out,' he said. 'They might get another victim for the purpose of having a human shield.' That's about what we would expect... |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |