[Straits Times] ONE of the suspected Muslim militants who kidnapped an elderly Swiss man was shot dead in the southern Philippines hours after their hostage was rescued, police said on Thursday.Pursuing policemen shot at three suspected abductors of 72-year-old Carl Rieth late on Wednesday, killing one while two others escaped, said Senior Superintendent Edwin Ocampo.
'The operations against the other kidnappers will continue. We still have people in the area,' said Mr Ocampo, police chief of Zamboanga city near where the shootout occurred. The three suspects were waiting for a boat so they could escape to the nearby island of Basilan when police caught up with them, said Mr Ocampo, adding that a pistol was recovered from the dead man.
Police tracked the three suspects after recovering a weakened, haggard Mr Rieth in a coastal village near Zamboanga before dawn on Wednesday.
At least eight heavily armed men snatched Mr Rieth, a businessman and long-time resident of Zamboanga, from his beachfront home on April 4. The kidnappers abandoned their hostage when they saw a rescue team closing in, the military said on Wednesday.
The police and military had insisted that no ransom was paid for Mr Rieth. It could not be determined if the dead suspect was a member of any Muslim rebel group, said Mr Ocampo.