RP troops kill 20 kidnappers holding hostages

RP troops kill 20 kidnappers holding hostages

ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (Reuters): Philippine troops have killed more than 20 members of a kidnap gang still holding two Chinese hostages on the southern island of Mindanao, the military said on Tuesday.

Southern commander Lt. Gen. Gregorio Camiling said the kidnappers were shot dead in clashes on Sunday and Monday during which two other Chinese hostages were killed. The military suffered one wounded, he said.

Camiling corrected a previous military report which had identified one of the slain hostages as Zhang Zhong Yi, saying the man was still alive but in captivity.

He said a military verification showed it was Zhang's brother, engineer Zhang Zhung Quiang, who was killed along with Xue Xing. Both were shot dead by their captors when the duo tried to escape during the fighting on Sunday, Camiling said.

He said the identities of the slain Chinese were given by the rescued hostage, Wang Shunli, but that soldiers had misunderstood what Wang was telling them.

"After he was rescued, he was still shaking when he uttered some names. He could only make some gestures because he could hardly speak English," Camiling said. "Later, we checked the information again."

An official at the Chinese embassy in Manila told Reuters an initial military report wrongly identified Zhang Zhong Yi as one of those killed.

The official, who declined to give his name, confirmed Zhang Zhong Yi was alive and it was his brother who was one of those killed.

The Chinese embassy has asked the Philippine government to explain the deaths of the hostages.

Camiling said soldiers had recovered the bodies of eight kidnappers from the scene of the fighting but the gunmen actually suffered heavier losses.

"The report from the assets (civilian informants) and from the rescued Chinese is 20 or more have been killed," he said. The engineer Zhang was kidnapped in June while working on an irrigation project on Mindanao.

His three Chinese compatriots, including his brother, and a Chinese-Filipino companion were themselves abducted more than a week ago when they went into the kidnappers' lair carrying a ransom of five million pesos (about $98,000) for his release.

In fighting elsewhere in the south, soldiers on Tuesday killed two members of the Muslim extremist Abu Sayyaf which has been holding at least two Americans and 16 Filipinos hostage for more than 12 weeks on Basilan island, near Mindanao, the military said.

The Abu Sayyaf professes to fight for an Islamic state but pursues kidnap for ransom as its main activity.