Philippines: Businesswoman rescued from Abu Sayyaf

By Hader Glang

ZAMBOANGA CITY, the Philippines (AA) – Philippine troops have rescued an elderly businesswoman from Abu Sayyaf-linked gunmen before her kidnappers handed her over to the militant group, according to the military.

Maj. Filemon Tan Jr., Western Mindanao Command spokesman, said in a statement that Martina Lyn Yee was rescued Wednesday morning in the majority Muslim island province of Sulu after her abduction Monday from Zamboanga del Norte province to the north.

"The Joint Task Force Sulu under Brigadier General Arnel Dela Vega rescued the 60-year-old businesswoman from being turned over to the Sulu-based Abu Sayyaf Group," he added.

Dela Vega said the rescue operation was a result of continuous intelligence gathering that began immediately after security forces received information of the gunmen’s plan to hand the Filipino-Chinese businesswoman over to the Abu Sayyaf.

“Upon arrival of the operating troops, the armed men hastily left and abandoned Ms. Yee for fear of being caught by the pursuing government troops," he said in a press release.

Military troops are continuing to conduct pursuit operations.

Yee was brought to a local military trauma hospital for a medical check-up and debriefing before being turned over to her family who expressed gratitude to troops, said Dela Vega, adding that the Abu Sayyaf is still holding 12 foreigners and 4 Filipinos hostage.

Amid ongoing military operations against the Abu Sayyaf, the group released four foreign hostages -- a Norwegian and three Indonesians -- over the weekend.

Norwegian Kjartan Sekkingstad was kidnapped from a resort on the island of Samal in September 2015 alongside two Canadians who were beheaded earlier this year, while the three Indonesian fishermen were abducted off eastern Malaysia in mid-July.

Negotiations for their release were facilitated by the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) rebel group, whose fugitive founder Nur Misuari hosted the four men overnight Saturday before their handover to the Philippines government -- with whom the MNLF is engaged in a peace process.

Since 1991, the group -- armed with mostly improvised explosive devices, mortars and automatic rifles -- has carried out bombings, kidnappings, assassinations and extortion in a self-determined fight for an independent province in the Philippines.

It is one of two militant groups in the south to have pledged allegiance to Daesh, prompting fears during the stalling of a peace process between the government and MNLF-breakaway group the Moro Islamic Liberation Front that it could make inroads in a region torn by decades of armed conflict.