MILF kidnaps nine in Lanao

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (AFP) – Muslim separatist guerrillas killed one and kidnapped nine people during a raid in a remote town in Lanao del Norte last week, police and military sources said yesterday.

Sources said members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) attacked a village near the town of Magsaysay in Lanao del Norte town on Nov. 16.

They burned a house owned by a convert to Islam, and gunned him down when he tried to stop them. Nine other members of the man’s household were taken as hostages, the sources said.

The captives were believed taken to a rebel stronghold in a nearby province and the MILF members demanded some P50,000 in ransom.

The incident was kept secret from the local press as authorities negotiated for the captives’ release. Provincial Gov. Imelda Dimaporo and police officials later secured their freedom without any ransom changing hands, the sources said.

The MILF is the country’s largest Muslim separatist group. It signed a ceasefire pact with Manila last year paving the way for negotiations.

Meanwhile, unidentified gunmen also kidnapped a Filipino-Chinese couple in Lanao del Norte early this week, the military said.

Sonny Chua and his wife Emily were aboard a truck when the suspects waylaid their vehicle and forcibly took them hostage.

"We received the report and police and soldiers were immediately sent to search and rescue the victims," regional Army spokesman Maj. Johnny Macanas told reporters.

He said soldiers had recovered the abandoned truck of the couple, but the fate of the hostages was unknown.

"We still don’t know what happened to them. Authorities are closely coordinating with the victims’ family," Macanas said.