Kidnappers strike Malaysian resort, three abducted<\/p>\n
KOTA KINABALU, Malaysia (Agencies): Gunmen have seized
\nhostages from an east Malaysian dive resort in the second such
\nkidnapping in five months and were headed by boat for the
\nsouthern Philippines with their three captives, officials said on
\nMonday.<\/p>\n
Malaysia launched a massive air and sea search for the gunmen,
\nthought to be Filipinos, and their Malaysian hostages.<\/p>\n
Sunday evening's kidnapping on the idyllic tropical island of
\nPandanan off Sabah was staged just one day after the last
\nEuropean hostages seized in April from another Malaysian dive
\nresort were finally freed.<\/p>\n
Four Europeans freed by Muslim rebels in the Philippine jungle
\nwere on their way to Libya on Monday, and a Libyan negotiator
\nsaid the rebels were expected to free two Frenchmen within days.<\/p>\n
\"An agreement has been reached regarding them and they will be
\nreleased very soon,\" Rajab Azzarouq, who was accompanying the
\nfour freed hostages, told Reuters by telephone from Ras al-
\nKhaimah airport in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).<\/p>\n
Asked if he expected the two French journalists, Jean-Jacques
\nLe Garrec and Roland Madura, to be freed within two to three
\ndays, Azzarouq said: \"Yes.\"<\/p>\n
Pandanan is about 35 minutes by boat from Sipadan island,
\nwhere nine Malaysians and 12 foreigners were abducted by Abu
\nSayyaf Filipino Muslim guerrillas on April 23.<\/p>\n
The reported payment of millions of dollars in ransom for some
\nof the Sipadan hostages sparked widespread predictions that Abu
\nSayyaf factions or copycat criminals might be back for more
\nvaluable captives.<\/p>\n
Many Filipinos have feared a new wave of kidnappings inspired
\nby the US$15 million in ransom reportedly paid for the release of
\nthe earlier captives.<\/p>\n
\"Paying ransom ultimately comes back to bite you,\" said
\npresidential Executive Secretary Ronaldo Zamora. \"This is a
\npolicy that is really self-defeating. The more you pay ransom,
\nthe more you encourage kidnapping.\"<\/p>\n
Deputy Premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, quoted in Kuala Lumpur
\nby Bernama news agency, said police had told him the gang might
\nbe foreigners.<\/p>\n
He said the Malay dialect they used was similar to the
\nlanguage spoken in the nearby southern Philippines. The four men,
\neach carrying an M-16 rifle, arrived by boat at Pandanan about
\n7.30 pm (6:30 p.m. Jakarta time).<\/p>\n
Eleven of the staff fled into the jungle. When they returned
\nfive hours later they found three of their colleagues missing.<\/p>\n
In the Philippines, armed forces vice chief of staff Lt. Gen.
\nJose Calimlim said Malaysian police had told him that the four
\nand their captives were headed for Bato-Bato, a town in the Tawi-
\nTawi group of islands.<\/p>\n
Zamora said Philippine President Joseph Estrada had ordered
\nhis forces to \"do everything to prevent these kidnap victims from
\nbeing brought to the Philippines.\"<\/p>\n
Roslin Ahmad, chief cook at the Pandanan Semporna Island
\nResort, said most staff were eating or resting \"when all of a
\nsudden four men with weapons appeared and shouted instructions
\nharshly.<\/p>\n
\"My friends bolted and I followed suit,\" he told reporters
\nafter arriving in the Sabah state capital Kota Kinabalu. \"We ran
\ninto the nearby jungle and hid there for quite a while. Soon
\nafter (bolting) we heard two gunshots.<\/p>\n
\"Five hours later, after we felt that it was safe to come out,
\nwe went back to the resort and found three of them were missing.\"<\/p>\n
They are resort manager Mohamad Noor Sulaiman, divemaster
\nJoseph Jongkinoh, and a Chinese contractor identified as Ah Kai,
\nwho was visiting to assess damage caused by a recent storm. The
\nstorm had damaged the clubhouse and the resort was closed to
\nguests.<\/p>\n
Sabah deputy police commissioner Mazlan Tyan said police had
\nlaunched a \"massive manhunt\" together with the navy and the
\nGeneral Operations Force, a paramilitary police force.<\/p>\n
He acknowledged that the kidnapping operation was \"more or
\nless the same\" as Sipadan.<\/p>\n
The workers also said they saw another boat, possibly with
\nfour men onboard, but it stayed off the island.<\/p>\n
Abdullah said police were investigating whether the Abu Sayyaf
\nwas also to blame for the latest kidnapping.<\/p>\n
Pandanan, a four-hectare island which boats pristine coral
\nreefs, has just one resort and no police base. \"Pulau Pandanan
\n(Pendanan island) is small and not all islands can be guarded,\"
\nAbdullah said.<\/p>\n
But he ordered tighter security at all holiday resorts,
\nespecially in Sabah.<\/p>\n
The raiders ransacked rooms at the resort and stole a grab-bag
\nof items -- a television, a video recorder, a mobile phone, a
\nvideo camera and a chainsaw. The resort has been evacuated and is
\nbeing guarded by police.<\/p>",
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