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Philippines raid { June 7 2002 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11084-2002Jun7.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11084-2002Jun7.html
Hostages Killed in Philippines
U.S. Missionary Dies in Rescue Attempt, His Wife Survives
By Jim Gomez
Associated Press
Friday, June 7, 2002; 1:19 PM
ZAMBOANGA, Philippines –– U.S.-trained commandos freed a Kansas missionary after more than a year in captivity Friday but her American husband and a Filipino nurse were killed during the shootout with their Muslim extremist kidnappers.
Four of the Abu Sayyaf kidnappers were killed and seven soldiers were wounded in the operation by Philippine commandos outfitted by the United States with silencers, night vision equipment and high-tech headsets.
Martin Burnham, 42, was killed by a gunshot, said Gen. Narciso Abaya, the Philippine deputy military chief of staff. It was unclear who shot him. Abu Sayyaf is believed to have links to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorism network.
Abaya said Ediborah Yap, a Filipino nurse kidnapped shortly after the Burnhams, also was shot in the rescue operation and died of her wounds.
Burnham's wife, 43, underwent surgery in the southern city of Zamboanga, said Maj. Gen. Ernesto Carolina, commander of Philippine forces in the south. Doctors said a bullet passed through her in the thigh.
"I was so happy when I got out of the jungle," Gracia Burnham, 43, told doctors as they treated her. She said she believed her husband's death was part of God's plan.
"That is God's liking. That is probably his destiny," she said.
Gracia Burnham was flown Friday night from Zamboanga to Manila, where the U.S. Embassy will take over arrangements to fly her to the United States, said Maj. Richard Sater, a spokesman for the U.S. forces in Zamboanga.
Yap and the Burnhams were the last remaining captives after the guerrillas kidnapped dozens of people over the past year. Some were beheaded and some escaped or were released.
President Bush said he was assured by Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo that "justice would be done."
Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes said the military could now pour reinforcements into the area and unleash its full arsenal "to finish off" the Abu Sayyaf. The group's numbers have dwindled to less than 100 from about 1,000 a year ago.
Despite the deaths of two of three hostages, Reyes defended the mission, saying Philippine soldiers took "every precaution to secure the safe release of the hostages."
The intense fighting Friday started early in the afternoon near the town of Siraway on the main island of Mindanao where the U.S.-trained Philippine troops have been searching for the hostages for weeks. The fighting was still going on after nightfall.
Helicopters piloted by U.S. troops helped evacuate the wounded but no U.S. troops took part in the raid, both Philippine and U.S. military officials said.
U.S. troops also had no hand in planning the raid, said Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. Myers said the training given Filipino troops since mid-February was not aimed at freeing hostages.
"The training was more general. It was not pointed to hostage rescue," Myers told reporters in Brussels, where he is attending a NATO meeting.
Some 1,200 Americans are in the Philippines as part of Bush's global fight against terrorism. The U.S. presence is the largest outside Afghanistan, where an international coalition is pursuing bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network.
Brig. Gen. Emmanuel Teodosio said the Americans – including Green Berets, pilots, military engineers and support staff – were crucial to the mission. Philippine officers credited U.S. surveillance with leading local troops to the hostages.
The United States has deployed U.S. Orion P3 surveillance planes and unmanned reconnaissance aircraft as part of its non-combat support for operations against the Abu Sayyaf..
"This was only made possible because of the benefits we have derived from the conduct of the exercise," he said. "The surveillance equipment of the Americans was very instrumental in locating where the Abu Sayyaf was."
Arroyo offered her sympathies to the Burnham and Yap families.
"This has been a long and painful trial for them, for our government, for our country," she said.
"Our soldiers tried their best to hold their fire for safety," Macapagal Arroyo said. "We shall not stop until the Abu Sayyaf is finished."
Philippine officers said the guerrillas evaded the troops for days but were slowed down by heavy rains Friday, allowing the soldiers to catch them.
Private First Class Rene Mabilog was with about 40 Scout Rangers who first came across the guerrillas.
"We were following them since last night," Mabilog told The Associated Press in a hospital where he was being treated for arm wounds. "This morning, we found their tracks and we followed them. There were about 30 of them."
Mabilog said the guerrillas stopped to rest because it was raining heavily and the soldiers crept up to about 30 yards behind them.
The fighting lasted about two hours, he said, and eventually included hundreds of Philippine troops.
The Burnhams, of Wichita, Kan., were kidnapped May 27, 2001. Yap was taken hostage a few days later when the Abu Sayyaf, with the Burnhams in tow, raided a hospital in the southern town of Lamitan to seize hospital staff and medicine to treat their wounded.
The guerrillas kidnapped 18 other people along with the Burnhams, including 17 Filipinos and Corona, Calif., resident Guillermo Sobero.
Sobero was beheaded by the guerrillas in June 2001, according to U.S. and Filipino officials.
The Abu Sayyaf says it is fighting to carve a Muslim state out of the southern Philippines.
Martin Burnham's parents, Paul and Oreta Burnham, received the news of his death at their home in Rose Hill, Kan.
"The Lord will give us the strength to get through this," Burnham said when he came to the door. He said Arroyo had called him.
Before a prayer service at Rose Hill Bible Church early this morning, Martin Burnham's brother, Doug Burnham, said the family was still trying to grasp the news.
"God has given us strength. It is kind of numbing right now. I suppose the full impact has not hit us."
Two of Martin Burnham's uncles, David and Ralph Burnham, were among those gathering at the church.
"Whatever his will is, we will accept it," David Burnham said. "This could have happened a long time ago. We appreciate we still have Gracia."
David Burnham said that as of Thursday the family didn't even know if the Martin and Gracia were still on the island and the rescue attempt came as a surprise to them.
He also said that the three Burnham children – Jeff, 15, Mindy, 12, and Zach, 11 – will be returning home to Kansas later today. with grandparents, Norvin and Betty Jo Jones of Cherokee Village, Ark.
© 2002 The Associated Press
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