Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Resort Owner Kidnapped In Southern Philippines

COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / September 9, 2008) - Gunmen seized Tuesday a wealthy resort owner in Mindanao island in the southern Philippines, security officials said.

Officials said four gunmen seized Perfecto Martinez, owner of the El Bimbo Resort in Datu Odin Sinsuat town in Shariff Kabunsuan, one of six provinces under the Muslim autonomous region.

“There is an ongoing operation to track down the victim. Police and military forces are on the move to locate the resort owner,” Lt. Col. Julieto Ando, a spokesman for the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, told the Mindanao Examiner.

Martinez was driving his car when gunmen flagged down the vehicle and forcibly took him, according to Ando.

Ando said no group claimed responsibility for the latest kidnapping, but previous abductions had been largely blamed to the Pentagon Gang and rogue members of the larger Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Last month, gunmen also kidnapped a Filipino doctor, Milagros Yap, in Cotabato City near Shariff Kabunsuan town, but security forces rescued her after killing one the captors in a running gun battle. (Mindanao Examiner)

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