Swiss
man overpowers rebel guard, escapes in Philippines
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[December 06, 2014]
By Rosemarie Francisco
MANILA (Reuters) - A Swiss wildlife
photographer escaped from Islamist rebels in the Philippines on
Saturday, killing one of them with a machete as he made a break for
freedom during a clash between the insurgents and government troops, a
Philippine officer said.
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Rebels of the Abu Sayyaf group kidnapped Lorenzo Vinciguerra, 49,
in the southern Philippines more than two years ago.
Vinciguerra made a grab for his guard's machete during a clash
between troops and the rebels, Colonel Allan Arrojado, commander of
the army's Joint Task Group on the island of Sulu, told reporters by
mobile phone text message.
The Swiss man was wounded on his left cheek as he wrestled for the
machete, finally getting hold of it and slashing the guard on the
neck, Arrojado said.
"He dashed while other bandits were shooting at him," Arrojado said.
Vinciguerra was being held with Dutch national Ewold Horn, 52, and
shouted at him to run but the Dutch man had been "very sick and very
weak" and unable to escape, Arrojado said, adding there was no word
on Horn's whereabouts.
Switzerland's Foreign Ministry said Vinciguerra was in good health
considering the circumstances. He remained in the custody of the
Philippines armed forces and would return to Switzerland as soon as
possible.
The ministry said in a statement that it greatly regretted that Horn
was "still in captivity", but did not elaborate.
The Philippines armed forces said five militants were killed and
seven wounded in the firefight.
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The two European wildlife photographers were taken captive in
Tawi-Tawi province as they were sailing on a bird-watching trip in
February 2012.
The Abu Sayyaf is holding several other foreign and Filipino
hostages.
The military launched an offensive against the Abu Sayyaf in October
after the rebels released two German nationals they seized in April.
The Abu Sayyaf are the most notorious of several rebels factions in
the Muslim south of the largely Christian Philippines.
(Reporting by Rosemarie Francisco, additional reporting by Tom Miles
in Geneva,; Editing by Robert Birsel and Clelia Oziel)
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