RP forces rescue kidnapped Canadian

RP forces rescue kidnapped Canadian

PHILIPPINES: Government troops and police on Sunday rescued a Canadian man held for ransom for nearly two months after a shootout in which two of his kidnappers were killed, government officials said.

Pierre Belanger, 51, a Canadian married to a Filipina, was rescued by a team of troops and police in a village in the southern province of Davao on Mindanao island, Presidential Assistant for Mindanao, Jesus Dureza, told reporters.

"I am healthy, I am OK. The treatment was OK, but to be locked up for seven weeks is not OK," Belanger told reporters before he boarded an aircraft in Davao for Manila.

Dureza said two of the kidnappers were killed in a five-minute gun battle and police were hunting the others. There were no casualties among the rescuers. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said Belanger was abducted by a kidnap-for-ransom syndicate called the Pentagon group. The same gang is believed to be holding Italian priest Guiseppe Pierantoni. --Reuters