Kidnapping of 22 in southern RP

Kidnapping of 22 in southern RP

ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (AFP): Muslim militants in the southern Philippines kidnapped 22 men they accuse of drug trafficking, but later freed 15 of them, officials said on Wednesday.

Their captors had been thought to be aligned to a major guerrilla group, but President Joseph Estrada's spokesman Fernando Barican described them on Wednesday as "remnants of former rebel groups now involved in banditry."

The military said 22 men were detained in the southern city of Marawi on Tuesday by a group calling itself the Maranao Islamic Brotherhood. A military spokesmen earlier said 42 were held captive.

Seven remained in the hands of their captors while the rest were turned over to a "provincial crisis committee composed of local officials, the military, and the separatist guerrilla group Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF)," Barican said.