Philippines: 2 Malaysians rescued from Abu Sayyaf militants

MANILA, Philippines – Two Malaysian sailors held captive for eight months by Muslim militants were rescued Thursday in the southern Philippines, military officials said.

The two were weak and in sick conditions when they were rescued by marines from Abu Sayyaf militants before dawn in waters near Sulu province’s Pata Island, said Major Gen. Carlito G. Galvez, Jr., a regional military commander.

They were taken to a military hospital for a check-up.

Tayudin Anjut, 45, and Abdurahim Bin Sumas, 62, were among five Malaysian tugboat crewmen kidnapped in July off Malaysia’s Sabah state near the southern Philippines.

Officials said the two were abandoned without a fight by their captors as a naval patrol closed in.

Abu Sayyaf militants survive mostly on ransom kidnappings, extortion and other acts of banditry, targeting slow-moving tugboats in the busy sea bordering the southern Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia.

At least 28 hostages, many of them foreign crewmen, remain in the hands of different Abu Sayyaf factions, officials say.