Philippine Muslim militants free student hostage

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-12-25 17:00

ZAMBOANGA, Philippines -- Muslim militants have freed a nursing student whom they held hostage for over two months in the southern Philippines, a government official said Thursday.

Al-Rasheed Sakkalahul told RMN radio that the kidnappers handed 17-year-old Joed Pilangga to his emissaries near Al-Barka township on Basilan island province late Wednesday. Sakkalahul is the provincial vice governor.

He said Pilangga's family paid a ransom to the kidnappers, believed to be members of the extremist Abu Sayyaf group, but that he didn't know how much was paid.

The militants abducted Pilangga October 17 in the port city of Zamboanga and took him by boat to nearby Basilan, about 550 miles (880 kilometers) south of Manila.

Last month the group freed a 24-year-old nurse they had held since July in exchange for 2 million peso ($40,000) in cash, a motorcycle and an M-16 rifle. They continued to hold a nine-year-old girl whom they kidnapped for a ransom November 26 in Basilan's Lamitan city.

The al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf is notorious for kidnappings, beheadings and bombings, and is on the US list of terror groups.

The Philippine military says the group has been crippled by US-backed military offensives and is grappling with a lack of funds, ammunition and other supplies, but continues to be a threat in the country's volatile south.

Meanwhile, a military commander said Abu Sayyaf gunmen attacked two Philippine marine detachments and burned down a schoolhouse near Patikul township on Jolo island farther south of Basilan before dawn Thursday.