Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Hostage released in Philippines

|
|
 
  
Published: April 2, 2009 at 4:59 PM

MANILA, Philippines, April 2 (UPI) -- The International Committee of the Red Cross confirmed Thursday the release of one hostage by the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group in the Philippines.

ICRC officials said Filipino Mary Jean Lacaba, who along with two other Red Cross workers had been held by Abu Sayyaf since January 15, was released Thursday. Abu Sayyaf, an al-Qaida-linked extremist group, is still holding Swiss citizen Andreas Notter and Italian Eugenio Vagni on Jolo, an island in the southwest of the country, the ICRC reported.

Abu Sayyaf has been demanding that all of the Philippines police withdraw from 15 villages on Jolo and had been threatening to decapitate one of the hostages before the release of Lacaba.

According to the ICRC, Lacaba was freed around 9 p.m. Manila time Thursday and appears to be in good health.

"For Eugenio Vagni and Andreas Notter, their loved ones and the whole of the ICRC, the nightmare of this abduction is not over," Alain Aeschlimann, ICRC head of operations for East Asia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific, said in a statement.

"Once again, we ask that they remain unharmed."

Topics: Andreas Notter
© 2009 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
The making of the Oscars The Chicago Auto Show Mercedes-Benz fashion week In New York
Tu Bishvat Migron settlement The Tibetan Moniam Festival in China The White House Science Fair
Additional Special Reports Stories
1 of 21
President Obama Signs Smuggling Prevention Act at White House
View Caption
fark
All fifth graders who want to go see "Red Tails" please step forward. Whoa not so fast there girls...
If we timewarped back by 2000 years, what job would you be most qualified to do? No, you can't bring...
BAD: getting caught in a landslide while hiking. WORSE: getting struck by lightning while trying...
Weepy eyes, hot chix, Jersey Shore Ronnie and a guy with mini fishing reels stuck in his beard....
French roadbuilders find 21 German WWI soldiers...and 1 goat
Photoshop this crazy old coot in the cold