Asia-Pacific News
LEAD: American boy escapes from captivity in Philippines
Dec 11, 2011, 5:35 GMT
Zamboanga City, Philippines - An abducted American teenager has escaped after five months in the captivity of Muslim militants in the southern Philippines, an army commander said Sunday.
Kevin Lunsmann, 14, was recovered by local authorities late Saturday in a remote village in Lamitan City in Basilan province, 900 kilometres south of Manila.
Lunsmann told authorities that he escaped from his captors on Friday as the Muslim militants evaded a military operation, said Colonel Ricardo Visaya, an army brigade commander.
'He looked very, very tired and he had many bruises and wounds probably from running in the jungle,' Visayas said.
Al-Qaeda-linked Muslim Abu Sayyaf rebels abducted Lunsmann with his 50-year-old mother and a Filipino cousin on July 12 in Zamboanga City. His mother was freed in October and his cousin last month.
The militants have been blamed for some of the worst terrorist attacks in the Philippines and high-profile kidnappings for ransom of foreign hostages.
They are suspected to have kidnapped a 53-year-old Australian man in nearby Zamboanga Sibugay province on December 5.
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