Philippines: 'Al Qaeda' Snatches Sisters

Al Qaeda-linked gunmen are feared to have abducted two sisters working on a film in the Phillipines.

Nadjoua and Linda Bansil were taken by a gang of around 10 militants from Sulu province's Patikul town, where they were filming coffee farmers, police and military sources said.

Police said at least three colleagues of the sisters, who were in a van, fled on a motorcycle or were left behind by the gunmen.

Patikul police senior inspector Christopher Gutierrez said: "We're trying to track down the abductors and the victims and possibly launch a rescue operation with the help of the military."

Marines stationed in Patikul have been battling al Qaeda militants

Marine Colonel Jose Cenabre said the gunmen belong to the Abu Sayyaf, a group notorious for ransom kidnappings, beheadings and other atrocities.

But Mr Gutierrez said police were still checking if the abductors were from an allied group of young gunmen behind several kidnappings.

Police said the women, who were guests of a Sulu-based sultan, did not liaise with them before their trip to the dangerous Patikul mountains.

They reportedly visited Mount Sinumaan, a rugged area where the Abu Sayyaf maintains a camp, and were on their way back to the provincial capital of Jolo when they were stopped by the gunmen.

The sisters were born in Algeria to an Algerian mother and a Filipino father but grew up in the Philippines, where they have been involved in recent years in producing independent films.

Abu Sayyaf militants have been holding a number of hostages in the jungles of Sulu, including two European bird watchers and a Jordanian journalist who were kidnapped last year.

The militants are active in Sulu, a predominantly Muslim province about 590 miles (950km) south of Manila, where they have survived in their jungle encampments despite years of US-backed offensives.

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