Girl, 7, kidnapped by Abus in Tawi-Tawi

ZAMBOANGA CITY – Suspected Abu Sayyaf bandits kidnapped a seven-year-old daughter of a businessman in Tawi-Tawi on Monday night, police said yesterday.

Radznalyn Astah and her parents, Rahim and Rasha, were at their store in a coastal village in Sitio Palau Pinang, Barangay Himba, Tandubas, when at least seven gunmen arrived on a pumpboat at around 9:30 p.m. and pretended to buy gasoline, according to initial reports received by Inspector Albert Carillo, Tandubas police chief.

When the father of the victim noticed that the suspects were acting suspiciously, he pulled out his caliber .45 pistol. However, one of the gunmen managed to snatch Radznalyn.

One of the suspects and the mother of the victim were wounded in the shootout.

Responding personnel of the Coast Guard and Marine Battalion Landing Team 6 failed to arrest the kidnappers, who escaped with the girl toward Sulu.

The kidnapping was the first along the shore of TawiTawi after more than two years.

The military has intensified its operations against Abu Sayyaf bandits at the border of Philippines and Malaysia, where hijacking of foreign vessels and kidnapping of their crewmembers ussually occur.

Joint patrols by Indonesian, Malaysian and Philippine Navies in line with a trilateral agreement also prevented pirates with links to the Abu Sayyaf.

A Dutch man, a Vietnamese, three Indonesians and four Filipinos remain in the hands of the bandits.