Two Chinese hostages shot dead in Philippines

Two of the four Chinese nationals held by a kidnap-for-ransom group in Maguindanao, southern Philippines were killed by their abductors yesterday while another one escaped following a skirmish with troops in the area.

Sketchy reports received by Army spokesperson Lt-Col Jose Mabanta said troops belonging to the 47th Infantry Battalion en-gaged about 60 gang members around 9 a.m. in a marshland in the boundary of village Bunawan and village Colombio, Sultan Kudarat.

"Two of the Chinese nationals were immediately shot by the kidnappers while another was able to escape," Mabanta said in a teleconference with reporters in the military's main Camp Aguinaldo in Manila's suburban Quezon City.

Mabanta, however, failed to indicate who among the kidnap victims were killed and who was able to escape. It was also unclear what happened to the two other kidnap victims.

"Another problem is we do not know who this group is," the Army official said in referring to the abductors earlier identified as headed by a certain Tahir Alonto, otherwise known as Abu Hamsa.

Hamsa is said to be a former member of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) which currently observing a ceasefire with the Philippine government.

Military units tasked to go after the abductors of the four Chinese engineers and their Filipino guide had earlier complained of being hamstrung by the ceasefire.

However, after the MILF had offered to help the Army pursue Hamsa, the military had gone all out in rescuing the Chinese captives.

Hamsa had demanded a $10 million ransom for their captives. During the fight yesterday, two unidentified kidnappers were also killed in the encounter while there were no reported casualties on the government side, Mabanta said.

He added that fight was still raging yesterday afternoon. Major Julieto Ando of the Army's 6th Infantry Division based in the area said local villagers tipped off the military about the presence of the heavily armed men and their Chinese captives.

In June, armed men seized Chinese engineer Zhang Zhung Quiang in Maguindanao.

Zhang was among several engineers working with China Import Export Technologies Inc which contracted an irrigation project in Carmen, North Cotabato, a province adjacent to Maguin-danao. Last week, four of Zhang's negotiators, his brother Zhang Zhung Yee, Wang Shu Li, Xue Xing and Filipino-Chinese trader Edwin Lim were abducted while they were about to pay a P5 million ($98,039.22) ransom.