Gunmen kidnap Italian aid worker in Philippines

Australian Broadcasting Company ^ | November 09 2004 | Reuters

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Gunmen kidnapped an Italian aid worker today on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao and have demanded a ransom, the army said.

Two Filipino colleagues of Andrea Cienosterone, a project director for Italian non-government organisation Movimondo, were also abducted but later released with the ransom demand for 300,000 pesos ($US5,300), said Lieutenant-General Alberto Braganza, the island's military commander.

He said the three were taken at gunpoint by four men in Lanao del Norte province.

"We're still checking the ransom demand," Lieutenant-General Braganza said, ordering government troops to try to find the Italian and his kidnappers.

An army spokesman said Ms Cienosterone was abducted by a group of bandits whose leader was a close relative of a senior leader of a Muslim separatist group in Lanao del Norte.

Eid Kabalu, a spokesman for the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), said rebel forces would cooperate with the government to secure Ms Cienosterone's release.

"We learned about the kidnapping and our forces in the area were ordered to recover him," he told Reuters.

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Ping

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Kidnapped Italian freed in Philippines

MANILA: An Italian aid worker walked free from the southern Philippines jungle on Wednesday, a day after local gunmen abducted him, officials said. Andrea Cianferoni called the kidnapping a "bad experience" but said he would still come back to the region, where he runs the local office of Movimondo, an Italian non-governmental organisation. Local officials and Muslim religious leaders in southern Mindanao island convinced the bandits to free Cianferoni about 20 hours after he and two Filipino co-workers were abducted near the town of Kauswagan, officials said. The bearded, 29-year-old aid worker appeared haggard after his ordeal and was later flown to Manila, where relieved Italian embassy officials met him. "It was a bad experience. Fortunately, it was a very short experience. We have to thank a lot of people," he told reporters, adding that he was still willing to return to Mindanao.

http://jang.com.pk/thenews/nov2004-daily/11-11-2004/world/w13.htm