Kidnappers free Filipino boy

Kidnappers free Filipino boy

ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (Reuter): Suspected Moslem fundamentalists have freed a 10-year-old Chinese-Filipino boy after more than four months of captivity in the southern Philippines, relatives of the boy said yesterday.

Eduard Tsang, a native of the town of Ipil which was attacked by rebels last April, was released on Tuesday and quickly taken by his mother to Manila for safekeeping, a member of the family told reporters.

Tsang was seized by kidnappers who have links to the radical Abu Sayyaf group last February, a few weeks before 53 unarmed civilians in his hometown were killed by Moslem gunmen.

"He is in good health," Noe Wee, an uncle of the boy said. He refused to say if any ransom was paid to the kidnappers.

The gunmen had originally demanded 50 million pesos in ransom (US$2 million) before reducing it to 10 million pesos ($400,000). The family conducted its own negotiations with the kidnappers and refused to cooperate with police.