| GOVERNMENT forces killed three gunmen believed to be behind the kidnapping of a local trader in the southern Philippines, the military said Wednesday. But the soldiers failed to rescue Zoila Kansi, 48, who was snatched by kidnappers last week while tending her store at the public market in Lambayong town in the main southern island of Mindanao. "Troops from the Army’s 26th Special Forces clashed with five suspected kidnappers and killed three of them. There were no military casualties," the military’s southern command said in a statement. It said the gunfight occurred Tuesday in a remote Mindanao village, and that additional troops were dispatched to track down the suspects. Splinter groups from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front have been blamed for kidnappings, bombings and other crimes in the south. |