Bad luck foiled Christmas rescue of Burnhams — Cimatu

Philippine commandos were within minutes of pulling off a Christmas Day rescue of a US couple held hostage by Abu Sayyaf rebels when a freak event threw the operation into chaos, their commander said yesterday.

Gen. Roy Cimatu said his Army Scout Rangers had burrowed into the tropical jungle of the southern island of Basilan in December for a Christmas Day raid, but a woman from an advance party of Abu Sayyaf wives stepped on the head of one soldier lying in ambush.

"She shouted really (loudly) and alarmingly, already giving signal" for the gunmen to escape with their hostages.

Cimatu said the troops had already been dug in for a week, acting on intelligence that Abu Sayyaf leader Abu Sabaya would be coming past the jungle spot with Christian missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham in tow.

The Rangers eventually rescued Gracia Burnham on the nearby island of Mindanao in June, but her husband and a Filipina hostage were killed by the rebels as the soldiers approached.

Days later Sabaya was presumed killed in a high-seas clash with pursuing troops aided by US spy technology.

"Had this woman not accidentally stepped upon the head of this Ranger, then it could have been really a big chance that we would be able to recover (the hostages)," Cimatu told the Foreign Correspondents’ Association.

"It almost broke our emotions because it was supposed to be a very happy ending on Christmas Day," he said.

Two earlier rescue attempts, in October and November, also failed, Cimatu said without giving details.

"I told my soldiers there would still be another time."

The rescue of Gracia Burnham ended a year-long hostage crisis that began in May 2001, when the Abu Sayyaf seized the missionaries, another US citizen and 17 Filipinos from a Philippine beach resort.

Most of the Filipinos were later ransomed off or murdered, while California resident Guillermo Sobero was beheaded.

President Arroyo later allowed US troops to deploy in the southern Philippines to help the army against the Abu Sayyaf, a small band of self-styled Islamic militants allegedly linked to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda terror network.

The US forces ended their six-month tour last week, although Filipino military officials say another round of exercises is to begin in October. – AFP