Indonesian hostages freed

JOLO: Two Indonesian sailors kidnapped by Islamist militants off the southern Philippines walked free yesterday after a firefight that left five kidnappers dead, the military said.

The sailors were abducted nine months ago in Malaysian waters and taken to the remote southern Philippine island of Jolo, a stronghold of the suspects from the Abu Sayyaf group, Islamist militants engaged mainly in kidnappings for ransom.

Their ordeal ended when they turned up at a military checkpoint on Jolo shortly after Philippine troops clashed with their suspected kidnappers in a nearby town, the local military chief said.

“Our soldiers spotted them at a checkpoint where they were on board a public utility vehicle,” Brig Gen Cirilito Sobejana, task force commander for the region, said.

“It appears they were able to flee their captors after the encounter that occurred 30 minutes prior to that,” he said, adding all were unharmed but showing the effects of poor nutrition.

Five Abu Sayyaf members were killed and five soldiers were wounded in that firefight, he added.

The two were abducted in November off the Malaysian state of Sabah that had for years suffered from repeated kidnappings by Abu Sayyaf.

The kidnappers still hold 15 other hostages, the general said.

One Vietnamese sailor was rescued last month after nine months in captivity.

Abu Sayyaf is known to behead its hostages unless ransom payments are made, but Brig Gen Sobejana said he was unaware of any ransom being paid for the two Indonesians.

Abu Sayyaf, originally a loose network of militants formed in the 1990s with seed money from Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network, has splintered into factions, with some continuing to engage in banditry and kidnappings.

One faction has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State and joined militants battling security forces in the southern city of Marawi. The militants have occupied parts of the southern city since May.