Muslim militants release trader captive in S. Philippines

COTABATO, Philippines, Feb. 22 — A Filipino trader held captive by suspected Muslim militants linked to Al-Qaeda in the restive southern Philippines was released on Friday, local police said later that day.

Chief Inspector Ariel Huesca, spokesman for the Police Office of Zamboanga Peninsula Region, said the victim, a 42-year-old man named Edgar Fabella, was abandoned by his captors belonging to the group of Abu Sayyaf around 10:00 a.m. at the port of Jolo in Sulu province.

Fabella, who was kidnapped last month in southern Philippine city of Zamboanga by Abu Sayyaf, told the police that he was treated well at the hands of his captors, and nobody had paid any ransom to the kidnappers in exchange for his freedom, said Mr. Huesca.

The 380-strong Abu Sayyaf group, founded in the early 1990s by Islamic extremists, is notorious for kidnappings, bombings and even beheadings in southern Philippines over the past decade. The group was blacklisted by the United States as a foreign terrorist organization.