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| Southeast Asia |
| Withdraw troops: Kidnappers |
| 2009-02-03 |
| AL-Qaeda-linked militants holding three Red Cross workers in the southern Philippines are demanding that troops be withdrawn from the area as a condition for their release, a governor said on Monday. Sulu provincial Gov. Sakur Tan said the kidnappers made the demand in a letter given to the vice governor on Sunday when she delivered medicine to the victims. The hostages - Italian Eugenio Vagni, Andreas Notter of Switzerland and Mary Jean Lacaba of the Philippines - were kidnapped from their car on Jan 15 after they inspected a sanitation project at a jail on Sulu's Jolo island, a predominantly Muslim region. Police said they were seized by gunmen who then handed them over to Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf militants, whom troops have been battling for years in the region. Mr Tan said the letter also asked that negotiators be named for talks on their release and suggested Tan, Vice President Noli de Castro, foreign ambassadors and senators as candidates. Mr Tan, who heads a task force dealing with the kidnapping, rejected any troop pullout and said he did not want any negotiators from outside the province. Sulu Vice Governor Lady Ann Sahidulla, who received the letter, also met last Wednesday with two Abu Sayyaf commanders along with the kidnap victims at a jungle hide-out. Manila's GMA television network said the handwritten letter was addressed to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and was signed by Abu Sayyaf commanders Albader Parad and Radullan Sahiron, an elusive one-armed leader long wanted by US and Philippine authorities for involvement in several terror attacks. Mr Tan said he could not confirm the authenticity of the signatures. |
| Posted by:Fred |