ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Dec. 10, 2011) – Abu Sayyaf gunmen have freed an American teenager late Saturday after more than five months in captivity in the Muslim province of Basilan in the southern Philippines, officials said.
Officials said Kevin Eric Lunsman, 14, was released in the outskirts of Lamitan City. Lunsmann, along with his mother Gerfa Yeats Lunsmann, 50, and a Filipino relative Romnick Jakaria, 19, were kidnapped in Zamboanga City in July.
“Kevin Lunsmann was released by his captors and is now under the custody of the military in Lamitan,” Army Lieutenant Colonel Randolph Cabangbang, a spokesman for the Western Mindanao Command, told the Mindanao Examiner.
He did not give details about the teenager’s health condition or if he sustained any injuries during his captivity. His mother was also freed in October and also Jakaria the following month.
It was unknown whether ransom was paid in exchange for the captive’s freedom. The kidnappers originally demanded P50 million ransoms for their captives.
The Abu Sayyaf is still holding an Indian, two Malaysians and a Japanese man and is suspected as behind a recent kidnapping of an Australian national in Zamboanga Sibugay province. (Mindanao Examiner)
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