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2012-02-02 18:21:50 GMT+7 (ICT)
ZAMBOANGA, PHILIPPINES (BNO NEWS) -- Unidentified gunmen on Wednesday abducted two European birdwatchers and their Filipino tourist guide in the southern Philippines, police said.
The victims were taken by five heavily armed men while they were riding a small boat off Panglima Sugala town in Tawi-Tawi province. Chief Superintendent Bienvenido Latag, police chief of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, identified the victims as bird watchers Elwold Horn, 52, from the Netherlands; Lorenzo Vinciguerra, 47, from Switzerland; and Ivan Sadenas from the southern city of Davao.
Tawi-Tawi Governor Sadikul Sahali said the two foreigners and the tourist guide have been staying in Panglima Sugala during the past two weeks for bird watching activities. "The foreigners were interested in various birds species in Panglima Sugala because it was only there that they saw some endangered species," the governor said, as quoted by the Inquirer Mindanao.
Sahali said the victims were with a policeman, a village councilman and a pumpboat operator when the incident happened. He added that the kidnapping would definitely have a negative impact on the town's economy.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the abduction, but the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao is a stronghold of Abu Sayyaf extremists. The al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf is a band of self-styled Islamists who have been blamed for some of the worst terrorist attacks in the Philippines and high-profile kidnappings involving foreign hostages.
In February 2004, a total of 116 people were killed when a bomb exploded on the SuperFerry 14 which had sailed out of Manila for Cagayan de Oro City via Bacolod City and Iloilo City. The attack, carried out by Abu Sayyaf, remains the world's deadliest terrorist attack at sea.
-- thaivisa.com © BNO News All rights reserved 2012-02-02
