Kidnappers strike Malaysian resort, three abducted

Kidnappers strike Malaysian resort, three abducted

KOTA KINABALU, Malaysia (Agencies): Gunmen have seized
hostages from an east Malaysian dive resort in the second such
kidnapping in five months and were headed by boat for the
southern Philippines with their three captives, officials said on
Monday.

Malaysia launched a massive air and sea search for the gunmen,
thought to be Filipinos, and their Malaysian hostages.

Sunday evening's kidnapping on the idyllic tropical island of
Pandanan off Sabah was staged just one day after the last
European hostages seized in April from another Malaysian dive
resort were finally freed.

Four Europeans freed by Muslim rebels in the Philippine jungle
were on their way to Libya on Monday, and a Libyan negotiator
said the rebels were expected to free two Frenchmen within days.

"An agreement has been reached regarding them and they will be
released very soon," Rajab Azzarouq, who was accompanying the
four freed hostages, told Reuters by telephone from Ras al-
Khaimah airport in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Asked if he expected the two French journalists, Jean-Jacques
Le Garrec and Roland Madura, to be freed within two to three
days, Azzarouq said: "Yes."

Pandanan is about 35 minutes by boat from Sipadan island,
where nine Malaysians and 12 foreigners were abducted by Abu
Sayyaf Filipino Muslim guerrillas on April 23.

The reported payment of millions of dollars in ransom for some
of the Sipadan hostages sparked widespread predictions that Abu
Sayyaf factions or copycat criminals might be back for more
valuable captives.

Many Filipinos have feared a new wave of kidnappings inspired
by the US$15 million in ransom reportedly paid for the release of
the earlier captives.

"Paying ransom ultimately comes back to bite you," said
presidential Executive Secretary Ronaldo Zamora. "This is a
policy that is really self-defeating. The more you pay ransom,
the more you encourage kidnapping."

Deputy Premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, quoted in Kuala Lumpur
by Bernama news agency, said police had told him the gang might
be foreigners.

He said the Malay dialect they used was similar to the
language spoken in the nearby southern Philippines. The four men,
each carrying an M-16 rifle, arrived by boat at Pandanan about
7.30 pm (6:30 p.m. Jakarta time).

Eleven of the staff fled into the jungle. When they returned
five hours later they found three of their colleagues missing.

In the Philippines, armed forces vice chief of staff Lt. Gen.
Jose Calimlim said Malaysian police had told him that the four
and their captives were headed for Bato-Bato, a town in the Tawi-
Tawi group of islands.

Zamora said Philippine President Joseph Estrada had ordered
his forces to "do everything to prevent these kidnap victims from
being brought to the Philippines."

Roslin Ahmad, chief cook at the Pandanan Semporna Island
Resort, said most staff were eating or resting "when all of a
sudden four men with weapons appeared and shouted instructions
harshly.

"My friends bolted and I followed suit," he told reporters
after arriving in the Sabah state capital Kota Kinabalu. "We ran
into the nearby jungle and hid there for quite a while. Soon
after (bolting) we heard two gunshots.

"Five hours later, after we felt that it was safe to come out,
we went back to the resort and found three of them were missing."

They are resort manager Mohamad Noor Sulaiman, divemaster
Joseph Jongkinoh, and a Chinese contractor identified as Ah Kai,
who was visiting to assess damage caused by a recent storm. The
storm had damaged the clubhouse and the resort was closed to
guests.

Sabah deputy police commissioner Mazlan Tyan said police had
launched a "massive manhunt" together with the navy and the
General Operations Force, a paramilitary police force.

He acknowledged that the kidnapping operation was "more or
less the same" as Sipadan.

The workers also said they saw another boat, possibly with
four men onboard, but it stayed off the island.

Abdullah said police were investigating whether the Abu Sayyaf
was also to blame for the latest kidnapping.

Pandanan, a four-hectare island which boats pristine coral
reefs, has just one resort and no police base. "Pulau Pandanan
(Pendanan island) is small and not all islands can be guarded,"
Abdullah said.

But he ordered tighter security at all holiday resorts,
especially in Sabah.

The raiders ransacked rooms at the resort and stole a grab-bag
of items -- a television, a video recorder, a mobile phone, a
video camera and a chainsaw. The resort has been evacuated and is
being guarded by police.