JOLO, Philippines (AFP) — Muslim extremists who abducted a broadcaster and her crew in the Philippines have set a deadline of Tuesday for delivery of a million-dollar ransom, a negotiator said Monday.
The ultimatum came after troops shelled a forested area on the southern island of Jolo where the extremists are holding the three, injuring a woman living in the area, officials said.
Troops moved Sunday into the area near the town of Indanan to put pressure on Abu Sayyaf extremists who snatched the group on June 8.
"One woman was rushed here at the hospital because of shrapnel wounds she got from the shelling," a staff member at Sulu Provincial Hospital said.
ABS-CBN television journalist Ces Drilon, her cameramen Jimmy Encarnacion and Angelo Valderama, and university professor Octavio Dinampo were heading to a secret meeting with a senior Abu Sayyaf leader when they were seized.
The abductors freed Valderama on June 12 after a ransom of 100,000 pesos (about 2,250 dollars) was paid.
They have since made contact with Drilon's family and given them until Tuesday to come up with a ransom, thought to be about 1.12 million dollars, for her safe release, negotiator Isnaji Alvarez said.
He said he had asked the military to stop shelling so negotiations could continue.
"We don't know what they (the abductors) are up to and what they are asking from the family of Drilon, but they gave me an ultimatum until Tuesday to resolve this problem," said Alvarez, who is also mayor of Indanan.
"The kidnappers wanted the family of Drilon to comply with their agreement," he said without elaborating.
"I need to know what the family of Drilon promised to the kidnappers. All negotiations should pass through me," he added.
A deadline for the other two hostages was unclear.
"It seems only Drilon's family is interested in talking to the kidnappers," Alvarez said. Her employers have stressed the station will not pay ransom.
Alvarez said the military shelling was outside the area where the hostages are thought to be kept, but "we asked for the operations to be called off so the kidnappers will not do anything drastic."
Drilon, 46, had gone to Jolo to interview Radulan Sahiron, one of the surviving Abu Sayyaf leaders who mounted a string of abductions of western tourists in the south in 2000 and 2001, raising millions of dollars in ransom.
Many of the other leaders have been killed or arrested in military operations assisted by US Special Forces military advisers who are temporarily based in Jolo and nearby islands.
President Gloria Arroyo has ordered police and troops get back all of the hostages alive, and military reinforcements arrived here on Sunday.
Meanwhile, a Muslim rebel leader accused in the past of kidnapping three Italian missionaries was shot dead in a firefight with the authorities on the southern island of Mindanao on Saturday, the military said.
Army Major General Nehemias Pajarito said Akiddin Abdusalam, a leader of the Muslim separatist group Moro Islamic Liberation Front, was slain at the wharf of Kabasalan town on Saturday.
Two other gunmen escaped, Pajarito told reporters.
Italian missionary priest Luciano Benedetti was abducted in Mindanao in 1998, followed by Giuseppe Pierantoni in 2001 and Giancarlo Bossi last year. All three were later freed unharmed after private negotiators paid unspecified ransoms.
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