Militants release Philippines hostage
Militants in the Philippines have released one of three employees of the Swiss-run International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) being held hostage.
Mary Jean Lacaba, a Philippines engineer, was freed on Thursday in a remote village on the southern island of Jolo, the country’s defence secretary, Gilberto Teodoro, announced.
Teodoro said there was no news about the remaining prisoners – Swiss national Andreas Notter and Italian Eugenio Vagni.
The ICRC confirmed the release and said Lacaba was healthy but “very tired”. She told the ICRC that the other two hostages were still alive.
“We remain very concerned about the fate of our two other staff,” added spokesman Florian Westphal.
All three employees of the Geneva-based ICRC were captured on a visit to a water project on January 15 on Jolo, a stronghold of Abu Sayysaf militants. The group wants to create an independent Islamic state in the southern Philippines.
The rebels had earlier threatened to kill a hostage if the Philippines did not withdraw almost entirely from Jolo.
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