Abu Sayyaf rebels seize eight from bus

Abu Sayyaf rebels seize eight from bus

PHILIPPINES: Guerrillas linked to the al-Qaeda network seized eight door-to-door cosmetics sellers on a remote southern Philippine island, but freed two of them hours later, officials said on Wednesday.

The three men and five women, all Filipinos, were on board a passenger mini-bus on Tuesday when Abu Sayyaf gunmen stopped the vehicle, grabbed them and herded them into a forest, the military said.

The abductions in the town of Patikul on Jolo island -- an Abu Sayyaf lair -- occurred less than three weeks after U.S. special forces ended a six-month counter-terrorism exercise on nearby Basilan island to upgrade the skills of local troops in fighting guerrillas.

Several hundred U.S. troops remain on Basilan, about 100 km northeast of Jolo, conducting civic action and medical missions. --Reuters