ZAMBOANGA, Philippines — Philippine security forces rescued a Chinese hostage and killed five militants Friday during a raid in the south, police said. Lin Yuankai was unharmed after a joint navy and police special forces team stormed the training camp of the Al Qaeda-linked group Abu Sayyaf on the mountainous outskirts of the port city of Zamboanga, regional police chief Napoleon Estilles said. “The victim ran toward the police forces' position shouting, ‘Chinese! Chinese!'," Chief Superintendent Estilles said. Lin, who works for a Chinese metals trading firm that buys ore in the troubled southern region of Mindanao, was abducted along with a compatriot at their rented apartment in the nearby province of Zamboanga-Sibugay in June. The second hostage, Lu Jian, was freed unharmed in Zamboanga city last month following negotiations between his company and the kidnappers, the authorities said. Estilles said five Abu Sayyaf kidnappers were killed in the raid, including a woman. Another male suspect was arrested, and an unspecified number of other suspects escaped, he added. Lin was the third Chinese hostage to be rescued in Mindanao this week. Police rescued two Chinese mining prospectors and killed a member of a local gang in a sting operation in San Francisco town Monday. Meanwhile, the military said militants have ambushed security guards and laborers from a rubber plantation on a volatile southern island, killing three men and wounding six others. The attack Thursday on Basilan Island, the stronghold of Abu Sayyaf militants, is the latest in weeklong assaults against the 2,964-acre plantation despite the military's efforts to protect workers. The government blames the Abu Sayyaf, which is notorious for ransom kidnappings and terrorist attacks over the last two decades. The violence is reportedly rooted in a labor dispute involving the cooperative and dismissed members who are relatives of some of the militant commanders. — Agencies
