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Chinese released by Filipino kidnappers

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-05-31 09:55

MANILA -- A 24-year-old Chinese national was released by her kidnappers Sunday morning in the southern Philippines, the military said.

Related readings:  Chinese abducted in Philippines

Afen Ma, abducted on May 27 in the southern province of North Cotabato, was turned over by the kidnappers to local officials in the township of Pikit shortly before 9 a.m. local time (0100 GMT), said Colonel Domingo Gobway, commander of the Philippine Army's 7th Infantry Battalion engaged in the operation against the kidnappers.

Ma, a 24-year-old Chinese citizen from China's southeastern province of Fujian, arrived in the Philippines with her husband as tourists around five months ago. Her brother-in-law runs a small department store in North Cotabato.

The Chinese woman was abducted by a gang in southern Philippines on Wednesday, local police said on Friday.

The kidnappers are believed to be part of a kidnap-for-ransom gang called "Pentagon" at a marshy area in neighboring Maguindanao province, and a sub-leader named Mayangkang Saguile was behind the abduction.