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Italian priest released by Islamic militants

Released Italian priest Giancarlo Bossi waves after his meeting with Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in Manila yesterday. Bossi, who was abducted in Zamboanga Sibugay Province on June 10 by armed men, was released after almost 40 days in captivity. Police officials said no ransom nor favors were given for Bossi's release. The Italian priest was recovered near the boundary of Lanao del Sur and Lanao del Norte in the southern Philippines. PHOTO: EPA

An Italian priest kidnapped by Islamic militants broke down in tears yesterday as he described his six weeks of captivity in the Philippine jungle.

Giancarlo Bossi, freed overnight after days of negotiations with the militants led by a former Islamic rebel, said he was repeatedly forced to march through the jungle at gunpoint as his captors tried to evade the authorities.

The 57-year-old said President Gloria Arroyo had told him in a brief meeting that 14 Philippine marines had been killed while they were searching for him on Basilan Island in the south, which is a stronghold of Muslim rebels.

"She told me that many people had been working hard for my freedom," he said.

Bossi said his kidnappers had told him that they were members of Abu Sayyaf, an extremist group that the US and Philippine governments say is linked to al-Qaeda.

But police said his captors were members of a breakaway faction of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), a separatist guerrilla group holding peace talks with the Philippine government.

Bossi said his abductors were taking orders from an unnamed person by mobile telephone and were seeking a 50 million peso (US$1.11 million) ransom to raise money to prepare for an unspecified rebel operation.

"I was the means to get a ransom. That's what they told me," he said. "I memorized their faces and said, `If I see any of them around I will go to the police and tell them -- That is one of my kidnappers,'" he said.

Philippine officials insisted no ransom was paid, and Bossi said he did not see any exchange of money.

In Rome, Pope Benedict XVI welcomed the news with "great joy," said Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi.

Bossi was seized on the southern peninsula of Zamboanga after celebrating Sunday mass on June 10. He said he was then forced to board a boat that took him to the Lanao region of Mindanao, where he spent the rest of his time.

"We changed hiding places sometimes, walking up mountains and crossing fields but we never strayed from there," said the priest, who lost around 7kg after being given only salted fish and rice to eat.

"I had a problem with the food," he said. "That's the reason why I [lost] a lot of weight. But never mind, I will have a chance to increase my weight again."

Efforts this month to find Bossi turned violent when the militants ambushed and beheaded marines on southern Basilan Island who were investigating a tip-off that he was being held in the area.

The government believed the attackers were a mix of fighters from Abu Sayyaf and the MILF, which has denied any involvement in the beheadings.
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