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American Hostage In Philippines Released
by Kazi Mahmood for IslamOnline
KUALA LUMPUR, April 12 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Jeffrey Schilling, the American hostage held for seven months by a faction of the Abu Sayyaf group in Sulu Province, south of the Philippines, has been released after a tough firefight between the group and the Filipino army on Thursday.
The army said the hostage, who was threatened with beheading on Philippines President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's birthday, is in good health.
"He is safe now. He is in good health. We are giving medical attention," general Romeo Dominguez told reporters in the southern city of Zamboanga.
His release is a boost for Arroyo's administration, currently engaged in peace talks with Muslim separatists and communist rebels, which had ordered the complete elimination of the Abu Sayyaf group unless they surrendered.
The United States thanked the Philippine military Thursday for Schilling's rescue.
"The US government is thrilled and we express deep appreciation" to President Macapagal and the military for their "valiant efforts" over the past seven-and-a-half months to free Schilling, a U.S. embassy spokesman told AFP.
He said Washington was hoping Schilling would return to his family in California shortly.
General Romeo Dominguez, head of the military task force staging an assault on the Abu Sayyaf, said Schilling was rescued in a raid on a camp in Luuk town on the island.
Dominguez said he was waiting for more details of the raid, adding fighting was still raging in Luuk and that there were probable casualties among the Abu Sayyaf.
Press Undersecretary Roberto Capco said the President was "very happy and commended the Armed Forces for the successful rescue."
"This shows that the President's tough policy against the terrorist group is successful," Capco said.
The Abu Sayyaf backed off on their threat to behead the U.S. hostage as hundreds of soldiers, bolstered by helicopters and cannons, descended on Jolo Island in search of Sayyaf hideouts two weeks ago.
In an attempt to get the government's attention and force them to negotiate, the Abu Sayyaf threatened to behead Schilling and give his decapitated head to the President as a gift on her 54th birthday (April 5th).
Instead of being thwarted by the Sayyaf's warning, Arroyo revived an all-out war policy against the group, who had previously abducted 21 mostly Western hostages on the Malaysian island of Sipadan one year ago.
Carol Schilling, a 51-year-old YMCA accountant in Oakland, pleaded with the Sayyaf to spare the life of her only son.
The Sayyaf took Schilling, a Muslim convert, after he visited their camp in Jolo on August 31st.
His mother, fearing the Sayyaf would carry out the threat to behead her son, flew to Manila to make a personal appeal.
Hundreds of military reinforcements, including elite Scout Rangers, guided by reconnaissance helicopters and backed by armored personnel carries and howitzers, arrived by air and sea to fan out to other suspected Sayyaf bases. Two Navy gunboats are also anchored off the island, apparently to prevent a Sayyaf escape.
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