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MILF Gunmen kidnap NGO worker in Mindanao
Gunmen kidnapped an Italian aid worker today on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao and have demanded a ransom, the army said. Two Filipino colleagues of Andrea Cienosterone, a project director for Italian non-government organisation Movimondo, were also abducted but later released with the ransom demand for 300,000 pesos ($US5,300), said Lieutenant-General Alberto Braganza, the island's military commander. He said the three were taken at gunpoint by four men in Lanao del Norte province. "We're still checking the ransom demand," Lieutenant-General Braganza said, ordering government troops to try to find the Italian and his kidnappers. An army spokesman said Ms Cienosterone was abducted by a group of bandits whose leader was a close relative of a senior leader of a Muslim separatist group in Lanao del Norte. Eid Kabalu, a spokesman for the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), said rebel forces would cooperate with the government to secure Ms Cienosterone's release. "We learned about the kidnapping and our forces in the area were ordered to recover him," he told Reuters. Posted by: Dan Darling 2004-11-09 |
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