Kidnap victim freed during clash

Manila: A police, military, and civilian operation rescued a midwife during a brief clash with bandits in the southern Philippines, ending her captivity which began in early August, police said.

A joint police and military operation rescued Evangeline Taverisma, 57, from members of the Abu Sayyaf Group at Lanang Dakula village near the boundary of Indanan and Parang towns at 6am yesterday morning, police chief Bienvenido Latag of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Midnanao (ARMM) said in a radio interview.

Policemen, government soldiers, Mayor Saripuddin Jikiri of Indanan and members of the Civilian Volunteer Organisations found Taverisma when her abductors abandoned her and fled towards Kupong Villahe, Indanan town, Latag said.

After receiving information from residents, government security forces launched a surveillance and offensive operation against members of the Abu Sayyaf Group, some of whom were seen dragging their kidnap victim in a coconut field in Lanang Dakula village at four in the morning, Latag said, adding the clash lasted for an hour.

Taverisma was brought to a military hospital for treatment and rest, said Latag, adding she has been reunited with her husband, a retired soldier.

Ransom was not paid to the abductors, said Latag, when asked about the kidnappers' initial ransom demand of 15 million Philippine pesos (Dh1.2 million) for her release.

After work

Last August 3, four armed men abducted Taverisma while she was on her way home after her duty at the government-run Rural Health Unit in Tagbak village, Indanan town.

The kidnappers, allegedly led by Nasir Timbang and a Commander Palu, were seen dragging their victim into a six-seater small vehicle during the abduction, eyewitnesses had said.

Last week, seven marines were killed in a clash with Abu Sayyaf members in Sulu. The group has been blamed for a spate of recent kidnapping incidents in Sulu.

Since the 1990s, the 400-strong Abu Sayyaf has been blamed for kidnap-for-ransom, beheadings, bombings, and other terror activities in the south. It was also blamed for a bombing that sank a commercial vessel and killed hundreds in Manila Bay in 2004.

It has links with Jemaah Islamiyah, the Southeast Asian conduit of the Al Qaida terror network.

Founded in the 1990s, the Abu Sayyaf Group was assisted by non-government organisations that were established by the brother-in-law of the late Osama Bin Laden.