arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)
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U.S. Tied to Ransom Deal with Bin Laden Allies by reuters(posted by guido) Friday April 12, 2002 at 12:11 PM |
MANILA (Reuters) - A senior U.S. official said Washington helped pay ransom last month to Muslim guerrillas in the Philippines linked to Osama bin Laden, but the Manila government said on Friday that no such incident took place.
Residents on the southern Philippine island of Basilan, where the Abu Sayyaf guerrillas are holed up, said the reports of the payment of $300,000 for the release of two American missionaries were true.
The missionaries -- Martin and Gracia Burnham -- are still in the custody of the guerrillas. They were kidnapped over 10 months ago and have been held since on Basilan, a remote, mountainous and forested island. Philippine National Security Adviser Roilo Golez said the reports from Washington were incorrect.
"The story has no basis and is apparently not true," he told Reuters. "Ransom is against U.S. and Philippine government policy."
www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=topnews&StoryID=804905#