How British man, Filipino wife were abducted in southern Philippines

A British man and his Filipino wife were abducted on Friday from their resort in Southern Philippines by six unidentified gunmen, police said.

According to the report, the victims, Allan and Wilma Hyrons, had just arrived at their resort in Tukuran town in Zamboanga Del Sur province, 794 kilometres south of Manila, when they were abducted, a police.

The report said two of the suspects stayed at the Hyrons Beach Resort overnight, while four came in on Friday afternoon.

“When the victims arrived at the resort, they were immediately abducted by the suspects and made to board two motorised boats which escaped separately,“the police said.

It However, added that one of the boats was monitored heading toward the nearby city of Pagadian and the other headed to the province of Lanao del Norte. It remained unclear if the victims were separated.

“No motive or suspects have been identified in the kidnapping, but Islamist militants are active in the area.

“Notorious kidnapping group is the terrorist group Abu Sayyaf, which has abducted dozens of foreigners for ransom, killing some of them, including a German man in 2017,“ it said.

The Abu Sayyaf had also been blamed for some of the worst terrorist attacks in the Philippines, and its late leader, Isnilon Hapilon, was known as the head of the Islamic State in South-East Asia.
Hapilon was among nearly 1,000 Islamist militants killed in a five-month siege on the southern city of Marawi in 2017, which also left 255 soldiers and civilians dead.(dpa/NAN)