Communist militants who seized 39 gold prospectors on Mindanao have released all but three of them, officials said Monday. The area's governor, Arturo Uy, said the New People's Army (NPA) released 36 of the miners they had abducted on Saturday as government troops closed in on them. It was not known why the NPA had held onto the remaining three.Uy said, "They were used as human shields," following negotiations that secured the release of most of the captives in the gold-rich Compostela Valley.
The NPA had seized the miners as the military was conducting a major operation against them in a mountainous area that has over the years attracted prospectors who operate illegal gold mines. Entire villages have been set up around such mines, which have also become a lucrative source of extortion money for the militants.
In the nearby town of Asuncion on Sunday, three soldiers were injured when the NPA set off a bomb to ambush a patrol, police said.