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Al-Aqsa: We freed kidnapped US youth
Dozens of armed gunmen from the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades stormed the Nablus apartment where kidnapped US citizen Michael Leighton Phillips was being held and freed the American youth. Phillips was initially taken to the home of a PLO Executive Committee members home, where he was surrounded by dozens of media crews. Phillips spoke to Ynet immediately after his release and said he wasn't disappointed in the Palestinian people, even though I cant exactly say that they treated me kindly. According to Phillips, he was held by his captors for 48 hours. I dont know who the kidnappers where or what they wanted, but I know who put me in the taxi that I was kidnapped from, he said. He refused to describe how the kidnappers treated him, and only said: I cant say they treated my politely or kindly. Earlier, the Ansar A-Sunna Palestinian terror group said it had kidnapped an American youth in Nablus and demanded the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israel in exchange for his release. The group is well known as being active in Iraq and identifies with al-Qaeda. In the afternoon hours, the kidnappers gathered a press conference to announce their demands: The release of women, children, elderly and infirm being held in Israeli prisons, and a halt to air force strikes on Palestinian areas. A blurred photocopy of a passport and student card carrying the American youths name was sent to the Reuters news agency. Palestinian residents of Nablus told Ynet that Phillips had been working for an UNRWA school in the Askar refugee camp for the past four months on a fully volunteer basis. "He loved the work, the students and the whole of the Palestinian people, and would bring gifts to his students because he felt their poverty, a Nablus resident told Ynet. He defined the kidnapping as anti-national, unpatriotic and damaging to Palestinian interests. Ala Sanqara and Rabia Abu Leil, chiefs in the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades who liberated Phillips, said that as soon as they learned of the kidnapping, al-Aqsa operatives searched all the places where gunmen affiliated with the organization hung out. From their perspective, they explained, freeing the captive became a national mission intended to prevent the sullying of the Palestinian image in the eyes of the international community. In an earlier conversation with Ynet, Abu Leil said al-Aqsa was in no way connected with the kidnapping. Not only are we not connected, but we severely condemn the whole business. If this youth was kidnapped in Nablus itself, then this is very since the foreign youths that are here despite the circumstances are generally volunteers who come to help us by teaching and humanitarian aid. Posted by: Fred 2006-10-12 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=168423 |