Islamic extremists kidnap Italian missionary in Philippines

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• From Claire Wallerstein, South-East Asia Correspondent, in Manila
AN ITALIAN priest and 12 of his parishioners were kidnapped by 30 heavily armed Islamic extremists in the southern Philippines last week, just hours after attending a peace and order council meeting.
Fr Luciano Benedetti, 56, from Treviso, is thought to have been seized by the Abu Sayyaf. the most feared and violent Islamic group in the country, although no group has yet claimed responsibility.
Army reports said soldiers pursuing the gunmen had found the 12 Filipinos — six of whom were children — abandoned in a remote village on Wednesday. But there was no trace of Fr Benedetti, who has been in involved in missionary work in the country for the past ten years.
Witnesses to the kidnapping said men clad in battle fatigues
and can-ying rifles burst into a co-operative store run by the parish of Sibuco in Zamboanga del Norte province at llpm on the night of Tuesday September 8. They dragged their hostages to a motor boat where they tied them up before speeding off.
Fr Giulio Mariani, Regional
Superior of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions, which runs the store where Fr Benedetti was seized, said that he feared that pressure from the military could put the priest's life in danger.
He said: "The military is doing its job and I trust the Governor [of Mindanasal, but 1 am concerned about the pursuit which the military has started, because it could put a lot of pressure on the kidnappers, who may use Fr Luciano as their shield. This is some sort of double-edged sword."
Fr Benedetti, he said, "is very calm and serene" in his nature. He added: "He is probably the best of us to be able to take something like this."
However, the kidnapped priest is recovering from what he called "a serious bout" of hepatitis.
Church personnel have been the target of ninny recent kidnappings by the Abu Sayyaf (Bearer of the Sword), and other Muslim groups, who have also carried out antiChristian bombings in the troubled southern island of Mindanao.
Among their victims was Spanish priest Fr Bernardo Blanco, who was kidnapped in 1993 but escaped after 48 days in captivitiy, and two Spanish nuns freed without ransom after 19 days the same year. Leaders of the Muslim movement the Moro National Liberation Front said that the kidnappers could be former members of the group. Last year two Catholic priests were abducted — Irish missionary Fr Desmond Hartford and Belgian missionary Fr Bernard Macs. Both were freed unharmed after pressure was put on the groups by the military.