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http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2007Jun10/0,4670,PhilippinesKidnappedPriest,00.html
Italian Priest Abducted in Philippines
Sunday, June 10, 2007
MANILA, Philippines - Gunmen abducted an Italian Roman Catholic priest who
was on his way to a remote village to celebrate Sunday Mass in the southern
Philippines, police said.
Giancarlo Bossi, 57, was riding his motorcycle in Zamboanga Sibugay
province's Payao township, about 500 miles south of Manila, when about 10
armed men blocked his path then seized him, said Senior Superintendent
Francisco Cristobal, the provincial police chief.
Cristobal said he suspected Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels who operate
in Zamboanga Sibugay, despite a cease-fire agreement with the government. He
did not elaborate, but said that al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf guerrillas,
notorious for ransom kidnappings, are not known to be active in the area.
Cristobal said police received reports that the group boarded two boats,
possibly to flee to nearby islands. Police and the military were searching
for the priest with land and coastal patrols, he added.
Hours after the kidnapping, Pope Benedict XVI condemned the abductions of
priests and others around the world and said he was praying for all those
who were being held hostage.
"I direct my appeal to the authors of these abominable acts, so that they
realize the wrong they have done and quickly return their prisoners to their
loved ones," Benedict said.
Bossi was assigned as parish priest of Payao in April and is a member of the
Pontificio Instituto Missioni Estere, Cristobal said. Sundalo Jianni, an
official from the mission, appealed to Bossi's abductors to free him.
"Father Bossi is a good man and there is no reason to hold him against his
will," he told the local Mindanao Examiner newspaper.
In 2001, the criminal Pentagon group, which is on a U.S. list of terrorist
organizations, abducted an Italian missionary who was rescued several months
later. Several other Filipino and foreign Catholic priests have been
targeted in the past.
Italian Priest Abducted in Philippines
Sunday, June 10, 2007
MANILA, Philippines - Gunmen abducted an Italian Roman Catholic priest who
was on his way to a remote village to celebrate Sunday Mass in the southern
Philippines, police said.
Giancarlo Bossi, 57, was riding his motorcycle in Zamboanga Sibugay
province's Payao township, about 500 miles south of Manila, when about 10
armed men blocked his path then seized him, said Senior Superintendent
Francisco Cristobal, the provincial police chief.
Cristobal said he suspected Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels who operate
in Zamboanga Sibugay, despite a cease-fire agreement with the government. He
did not elaborate, but said that al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf guerrillas,
notorious for ransom kidnappings, are not known to be active in the area.
Cristobal said police received reports that the group boarded two boats,
possibly to flee to nearby islands. Police and the military were searching
for the priest with land and coastal patrols, he added.
Hours after the kidnapping, Pope Benedict XVI condemned the abductions of
priests and others around the world and said he was praying for all those
who were being held hostage.
"I direct my appeal to the authors of these abominable acts, so that they
realize the wrong they have done and quickly return their prisoners to their
loved ones," Benedict said.
Bossi was assigned as parish priest of Payao in April and is a member of the
Pontificio Instituto Missioni Estere, Cristobal said. Sundalo Jianni, an
official from the mission, appealed to Bossi's abductors to free him.
"Father Bossi is a good man and there is no reason to hold him against his
will," he told the local Mindanao Examiner newspaper.
In 2001, the criminal Pentagon group, which is on a U.S. list of terrorist
organizations, abducted an Italian missionary who was rescued several months
later. Several other Filipino and foreign Catholic priests have been
targeted in the past.
