DATE=4/24/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=MALAYSIA / PHILIPPINES HOSTAGES (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-261648
BYLINE=RON CORBEN
DATELINE=BANGKOK
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Suspected Philippine gunmen have
kidnapped more than 20 people from a Malaysian
resort island off the coast of Borneo. Ron
Corben reports from VOA's Southeast Asia Bureau
in Bangkok, the hostages -- many of them foreign
tourists -- may have been taken into the nearby
waters of the southern Philippines.
TEXT: In an unfolding kidnap drama, more than 20
hostages were taken late Sunday from Sipadan
Island in eastern Malaysia.
Malaysian police say the incident began late
Sunday afternoon when six heavily armed and
masked assailants marched into a resort dining
hall and grabbed the hostages, including staff,
tourists and wildlife rangers. The gunmen were
armed with rocket launchers and M-16 assault
rifles.
Philippine authorities were reported late Monday
to have placed their navy and air force on alert,
amid signs the gunmen, with their hostages, had
traveled into Philippine waters. Sipadan Island
is just a 45-minute boat journey to the most
southern island of the Sulu archipelago and the
Philippines' southern Mindanao region.
Philippines officials say they are trying to determine
if the incident is related to an on-going hostage
crisis involving members of a Philippine Muslim
separatist group.
The Philippine army is pressing an attack,
launched Saturday, in an attempt to free
27 hostages. These hostages are being held by the Abu
Sayyaf rebels, in southern Basilan province, in the
Sulu archipelgao.
NEB/RC/FC/KL
24-Apr-2000 06:21 AM EDT (24-Apr-2000 1021 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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