US warns kidnap threat in Philippines

MANILA - The US embassy has warned that extremists could be plotting to kidnap Americans and other foreigners in a southern Philippine city where US counterterrorism troops are based.
The embassy said it has sent email alerts to all Americans living in the archipelago nation about the threat by “extremist elements” targeting the port city of Zamboanga.
More than 100,000 US citizens are known to be based in this former US colony.
“The US Embassy has received information that extremist elements may be planning to kidnap Americans or other foreigners at hotels or other public places in the Zamboanga City area,” the message posted Tuesday on its website said. No other details were disclosed.
Small groups of US Special Forces are based in Zamboanga, the nerve centre for the southern Philippines military command, to train Filipino troops battling Islamic militants.
Abu Sayyaf guerrillas with supposed links to the Al-Qaeda network have been blamed for a series of bombings and other deadly attacks in the Southeast Asian nation in recent years.
Rebels kidnapped a group of tourists, including an American missionary couple, in a resort island in the western Philippines in 2001, before they were brought to Basilan island near Zamboanga and held hostage for more than a year.
The kidnappers were later flushed out of the island and fled to the Zamboanga peninsula where American Martin Burnham was killed in a rescue attempt by the Philippines military the following year.
His wife, Gracia Burnham, was rescued in the operation.