By Hader Glang
ZAMBOANGA CITY
A businesswomen kidnapped by al-Qaeda-linked militants in the Philippines Muslim south has been released after four months in captivity.
Ensign Ian Chester Ramos, army information officer, told The Anadolu Agency that Michelle Panes, 36, was freed by her captors in southern Sulu province – a known Abu Sayyaf stronghold -- at around 09.00 a.m. (01.00 a.m. GMT) Wednesday, a day before Christmas.
The businesswoman was abducted Aug. 18 from her family’s grocery store in Labuan village, 36 kilometers west of the predominantly Christian city of Zamboanga, by unidentified gunmen in camouflage claiming to be from the country’s drug enforcement agency.
While her husband managed to fight off the kidnappers and flee, the victim was dragged to the shore where getaway pump boats were waiting.
Ramos said in a text message that Panes was “brought to the headquarters of the Joint Task Group Sulu in Jolo [Sulu’s capital] by a civilian who found her after she was released."
Meanwhile, Colonel Allan Arojado, commander of Joint Task Group Sulu, said Panes would be returned to Zamboanga City after undergoing custodial debriefing.
Since 1991, the Abu Sayyaf -- armed with mostly improvised explosive devices, mortars and automatic rifles -- has carried out bombings, kidnappings, assassinations and extortions in a self-determined fight for an independent Islamic province in the Philippines.
It is notorious for beheading victims after ransoms have failed to be paid for their release.
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