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The Philippine military said on Monday that they had rescued a Vietnamese sailor taken hostage in November last year by the Abu Sayyaf group based in the southern Basilan province.
The Philippine Navy said the rescued victim as Do Trung Huiqe, a crew member of MV Royal 16, was rescued on Sunday on Mataja Island of Basilan.
"The intensified military offensives caused the Abu Sayyaf (kidnappers) to flee, and opened a chance for rescue operations," said Rear Admiral Rene Medina, commander of Naval Forces Western Mindanao, in a statement.
Do Trung Huiqe is among the six crew members of MV Royale 16 who were abducted by Abu Sayyaf criminals around 5 a.m. local time last Nov. 11 near Sibago Island in the Basilan Strait, a strait of water separating the islands of Mindanao and Basilan province.
"Do Trung Huiqe will be brought to a military hospital to undergo medical check-up and debriefing prior turning him over to authorities and eventually to the government of Vietnam," Medina said.
Last July, the military said the Abu Sayyaf beheaded two Vietnamese men sailors, Hoang Trung Thong and Hoang Va Hai, who were kidnapped along with Do Trung Huiqe last year. The military rescued Huang Vo last June.
Last February, the Abu Sayyaf also killed a crew member of another Vietnamese ship MV Giang Hai off Sulu's Pearl Bank and abducted seven others.
The Abu Sayyaf group is still holding at least 20 hostages, according to the military.
Abu Sayyaf jihadist group was set up in the early 1990s with money from al-Qaida group. It is one of the Islamic-extremist groups in the Philippines that pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) notorious for kidnapping for ransom, bombings and robberies in the southern Philippines.
The Abu Sayyaf bandits have hideouts in the remote impoverished provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
