[IsraelTimes] A Swiss man kidnapped by Islamic holy warriors in the Philippines nearly three years ago escaped on Saturday after a fierce struggle with one of his captors over a machete and a frantic run to freedom under gunfire, the military said.
Lorenzo Vinciguerra took advantage of a pre-dawn assault by soldiers on his Abu Sayyaf
...also known as al-Harakat al-Islamiyya, an Islamist terror group based in Jolo, Basilan and Zamboanga. Since its inception in the early 1990s, the group has carried out bombings, kidnappings, murders, head choppings, and extortion in their uniquely Islamic attempt to set up an independent Moslem province in the Philippines. Abu Sayyaf forces probably number less than 300 cadres. The group is closely allied with remnants of Indonesia's Jemaah Islamiya and has loose ties with MILF and MNLF who sometimes provide cannon fodder...
abductors in the jungles of a remote southern island to make his bold escape, the local military spokeswoman told AFP. |