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Kidnapped American Teen Escapes Suspected Al Qaida Captors in Philippine Jungle

Kidnapped American Teen Escapes Suspected Al Qaida Captors in Philippine Jungle

Kevin Lunsman, a kidnapped American teenage boy, talks to Filipino soldiers inside the Philippine military compound in Zamboanga city, southern Philippines following his escape from suspected al-Qaida-linked militants. (AP Photo)

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A kidnapped American teenage boy escaped from suspected al-Qaida-linked militants and wandered without shoes for two days in a southern Philippine jungle before villagers found him, ending his five-month captivity, officials said Sunday.

Kevin Lunsmann, 14, told his four armed captors that he would take a bath in a stream and then made a dash for freedom Friday in Basilan province, police Senior Supt. Edwin de Ocampo said. He followed a river down a mountain until villagers found him late the next day, de Ocampo said.

Exhausted, hungry and still stunned, the boy initially fled from the villagers, de Ocampo said.

Kidnapped American Teen Escapes Suspected Al Qaida Captors in Philippine Jungle

Reuters

“He was in fear so there was a bit of a chase before the villagers convinced him that they were friends,” de Ocampo told the Associated Press. He said the boy was fine, but was exhausted and had bruises on his arms and feet.

Initial reports had said the boy was freed by his captors.

Zamboanga City Mayor Celso Lobregat said he has been flown to Manila and turned over to U.S. officials there.

U.S. Ambassador Harry Thomas said the boy would be reunited with his family soon.

“In this holiday season nothing makes me happier than knowing that an innocent victim is returned to his family in time for holiday celebrations,” Thomas said in a statement. “I also want to acknowledge the courage of Kevin himself, and his family, throughout this long ordeal.”

Thomas said there would be a “speedy investigation and prosecution of all those involved in the kidnapping of American citizens.”

Lobregat said the boy has talked by phone with his Filipino-American mother, Gerfa Yeatts Lunsmann, who was in the United States. He, his mother and a Filipino cousin were vacationing with relatives on an island near Zamboanga City when they were snatched July 12 and taken by boat to nearby Basilan.

The captors then called the family in Campbell County, Virginia, to demand a ransom, officials said.

The mother was freed two months ago after she was dropped off by boat at a wharf on Basilan. The boy’s Filipino cousin escaped from their captors last month when Filipino army forces managed to get near an Abu Sayyaf camp in the mountains of Basilan, about 550 miles (880 kilometers) south of Manila.

Lobregat said he was unaware if any ransom changed hands.

Army Col. Ricardo Visaya said the kidnappers were believed led by Abu Sayyaf militant Puruji Indama, who is notorious for ransom kidnappings and beheadings. Troops were hunting down the militants and clashed with one group in Akbar town, near Lamitan, which may have distracted the kidnappers and gave Lunsmann a chance to flee, he said.

Kidnapped American Teen Escapes Suspected Al Qaida Captors in Philippine Jungle

Reuters

When Visaya asked the boy if he was freed, which would indicate that ransom was paid, or escaped, Lunsmann replied that he fled from his captors. “No, I really did it myself,” he quoted Lunsmann as telling him. Visaya said he later handed the boy to American troops based in Basilan.

Ransom kidnappings have long been a problem in the impoverished region and are blamed mostly on the Abu Sayyaf, an al-Qaida-linked group on a list of U.S. terrorist organizations, and its allied armed groups. The militants are notorious for kidnappings, beheadings and bombings.

The Abu Sayyaf, which has less than 400 armed fighters, was founded on Basilan in the 1990s as an offshoot of a violent Muslim insurgency that has been raging for decades. Hundreds of U.S. troops have been stationed in the southern Philippines, including Basilan, to train and equip Philippine forces but are barred from local combat.

On Monday, suspected militants abducted Australian Warren Richard Rodwell, 53, from his seaside house in Zamboanga Sibugay province, near Basilan.

The Abu Sayyaf are believed to be still holding an Indian, a Malaysian and a Japanese in their jungle strongholds on Jolo island, near Basilan.

Comments (27)

  • tharpdevenport
    Posted on December 12, 2011 at 5:52am

    If we’re not careful, this could be a future look at America. Sopme nice areas, but some waring, and then spots where Islamic terrorists kidnaps citizens.

    Report Post » tharpdevenport  
  • billvassos
    Posted on December 12, 2011 at 1:15am

    In retaliation we should kidnap the young Terrorist boy, Take him to disney world, Buy him a bicycle In shoes…

    Report Post » billvassos  
  • Coyote6
    Posted on December 11, 2011 at 8:12pm

    I want to read this novel and see this movie. Great story.

    Report Post » Coyote6  
  • sabrinacle
    Posted on December 11, 2011 at 7:17pm

    Im happy for the family.God bless them all. What a horrible ordeal.

    Report Post » sabrinacle  
  • ChevalierdeJohnstone
    Posted on December 11, 2011 at 6:49pm

    Let‘s do a bit of Occam’s Razor-cutting here. The hikers held captive in Iran. Everyone wants to know what they were doing there. This immigrant, formerly Filipina woman – BigDaddyTex comments that she should have known better than to take her children “on vacation” into that region.

    The simplest answer is, they all did know better. The simplest answer is that the hikers and Mrs. Lunsmann were complicit in their own captivity. The hikers have repeatedly made anti-American, pro-Iranian regime comments. What are the chances Mrs. Lunsmann leans a little bit left? This is the fantasy world in which members of the Left live, where getting captured by the Revolutionary Guard or al Qaeda earns your revolutionary, “peace-loving”, anticapitalist stripes. I wouldn’t rule out their actions being the result of a crazed fantasy in which they wandered around the area hoping to get captured; I also wouldn’t be at all surprised if they actively collaborated with the enemy. This is Operation Human Shields, part two. Welcome to globalized asymmetrical warfare: yes, the enemy is Inside the gates.

    Kudos to the young man for not being an idiot like his mother. I have to ask, what kind of mother gets “set free” and leaves her young son behind in captivity? Hm?

    But maybe I’m wrong. Maybe Mrs. L and the America-hating hikers are just imbeciles, and not traitors.

    Regardless. Ransoming leftists would be a great fundraising opportunity for anti-American terrorists

    Report Post »  
    • ramburner
      Posted on December 11, 2011 at 8:21pm

      I agree. I live in the Philippines and I know you just don’t go to certain areas of the country. Even the main Island of Luzon has NPA in the mountains. Right-thinking people are able to understand; if a group of people separates themselves from the rest of society, then chances are they are not that friendly! Be awre of your surroundings at all times! Otherwise, this country is Paradise and the freedoms we have here to start business and experience life as it should be in the states is the brightest contrast to living under the dictator and chief screw up, Obummer.

      Report Post »  
    • QuinnOak
      Posted on December 12, 2011 at 5:56am

      I’ve travelled to the Philippines on many occasions and some parts are lovely but honestly it is kind of dreary in relation to some of the countries nearby (at least when it comes to vacationing). The point is though, westerners will travel to the Philippines and some of them will be kidnapped. I myself have been in some less-than-ideal situations in the Philippines and Indonesia and stuff can happen no matter how careful you are. It has no bearing on the integrity of the people in question.

      Report Post »  
  • garbagecanlogic
    Posted on December 11, 2011 at 6:37pm

    How do they know he escaped? Maybe he was a willing participant and has a new assignment.

    The U.S. Out Of The U.N.
    The U.N. Out Of The U.S.

    Report Post »  
    • ChevalierdeJohnstone
      Posted on December 11, 2011 at 6:51pm

      A 15-year-old American boy isn’t mature enough to be a willing participant. We don’t raise our kids to think that way. He may well have been brainwashed into participating by his mother, however.

      Report Post »  
    • ZengaPA65
      Posted on December 11, 2011 at 10:52pm

      If you think a 15 yr old isn’t mature enough to be a willing participant then you need to study the drug wars in Mexico and the civil wars in Uganda and Sierra Leone.

      Report Post » ZengaPA65  
  • Secessionista
    Posted on December 11, 2011 at 6:30pm

    If an American is being held in the jungles of ANY country, that is more than enough reason to resume mass production of agent orange and begin the spraying campaign.

    Report Post » Secessionista  
  • mlebates
    Posted on December 11, 2011 at 6:16pm

    What a wonderful gift to have happen to a family during the time of year we celebrate Jesus’ birth. It is truly a blessing that he was able to get away. Thank heavens the young buy was able to keep his wits about him and see an opening for escape. Thank heavens no blood was shed on either member of the family that was captured. Christmas truly is a time to remember all the blessings we have been given through Christ and I hope this family counts this one.

    Report Post »  
  • Tagudinian
    Posted on December 11, 2011 at 5:11pm

    The Filipino-American mother of this boy is way too Americanized in that she thinks she can go anywhere in the world unchallenged because she is a US citizen. To wit: Those idiot students who were caught hiking in Iran. Either that or she has forgotten her Filipino beginnings. Having come from that part of the world she should know better than to let her son go traipsing around oblivious of the Muslim savages that infest the area. That he escaped from captivity at all is in and of itself a miracle.

    Report Post » Tagudinian  
  • conservativewoman
    Posted on December 11, 2011 at 4:49pm

    We have many Fillipino parishioners at my church, and they are wonderful, devout Christian Catholics.
    I am sure many a knee was bent and many a prayer was said for this boy. I am so glad he is safe.

    Report Post » conservativewoman  
    • ThoreauHD
      Posted on December 11, 2011 at 9:10pm

      Just an FYI. Catholics are the first Christians. Catholic Christian is redundant.

      Report Post » ThoreauHD  
  • ShadowmaSSofSC
    Posted on December 11, 2011 at 4:36pm

    Welcome back and marry Christmas.

    Report Post »  
  • spfoam1
    Posted on December 11, 2011 at 4:21pm

    Good for him! Sometimes you have to take matters into your own hands and do what needs to be done instead of waiting for help. We should all thnk about that, with the enemies of America in our midst, who will be plotting and planning through the winter. If they come to your door will you call 911 and wait for the help that will probably be too late, or may not come at all?

    Report Post »  
  • josh345
    Posted on December 11, 2011 at 4:21pm

    well, well, well, muslim militants at it again? oh well no surprise there…just saying, what idiots would kidnap somebody and let him go get a drink on his own?

    Report Post »  
  • Turtleman
    Posted on December 11, 2011 at 4:18pm

    Thank God this young man will be reunited with his family soon!

    Report Post »  
  • BigDaddyTex
    Posted on December 11, 2011 at 3:57pm

    That area’s been dangerous for outsiders for YEARS… When I was stationed in the Phillipines in the mid ’80s it was off limits. His mom should have known better than to let him go near the place. Those folks down there don’t like Christian Filipinos and care even less for Americans.
    Lesson learned (HOPEFULLY!)

    Report Post »  
    • BigDaddyTex
      Posted on December 11, 2011 at 4:04pm

      Sorry for the typo on Philippines… No disrespect intended….

      Report Post »  
    • BigDaddyTex
      Posted on December 11, 2011 at 4:08pm

      Philippines…. No disrespect intended by the typo…

      Report Post »  
  • Amy
    Posted on December 11, 2011 at 3:53pm

    The Muslim Brotherhood has been fighting for island sovereignty for decades. And the Philippines has thousands of islands for them to train.

    Report Post » Amy  
  • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
    Posted on December 11, 2011 at 3:41pm

    Thank you God he is safe; let swift and true justice come to his kidnappers.

    Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
    • Marci
      Posted on December 11, 2011 at 3:45pm

      I am glad he is safe, but I so wish people would educate themselves about what is going on in the world and stop letting their children go there. The hikers who ended up in Iran, the idiotic college kids who protested, etc.

      Report Post » Marci  
    • Exrepublisheep
      Posted on December 11, 2011 at 6:07pm

      FINE! Be that way. I agree with both of you.

      Report Post » Exrepublisheep  

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