Communist militants have kidnapped a government soldier in the southern Philippines. Corporal Salman Abbas was captured by New People's Army guerrillas at a checkpoint along a village road in Mindanao's Agusan del Sur province on Tuesday morning, said Lieutenant Colonel Leo Bongosia.He said, "The unarmed soldier was riding on his motorcycle on his way to the town proper when stopped and seized by the NPA gunmen disguised as soldiers."
Bongosia said the guerrillas also briefly held local health workers who were on their way to Binicalan to supposedly distribute health cards and enroll more villagers to the government's anti-poverty cash transfer program. The health workers were ordered to turn back. He said, "This clearly shows the NPA do not want development and progress to reach far- flung areas in the countryside such as Binicalan."
The latest kidnapping came just over a week after communist guerrillas freed five government troops they had held in the southern Mindanao city of Davao for some 34 days.