AFP: Hostage Martin Burnham died in crossfire
Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Roy Cimatu confirmed Friday afternoon that the Abu Sayyaf hostages nurse Ediborah Yap and Martin Burnham died, while his wife Gracia was wounded, in an armed clash between military troops and the bandits near the border area of Sirawai and Sibuco in Zamboanga del Norte.
Gracia Burnham was rushed to the Southcom hospital in Zamboanga City for emergency medical treatment with American medics assisting.
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Martin Burnham, Ediborah Yap dead, Gracia freed in rescue
Posted: 5:06 PM (Manila Time) | Jun. 07, 2002
Agence France-Presse
ZAMBOANGA – US hostage Martin Burnham was killed and his wife Gracia Burnham wounded but freed in a rescue attempt by the Philippine military on Friday, a Filipino general told Agence France-Presse. Television reports said the Filipino hostage, nurse Ediborah Yap, was also killed. The Christian missionaries were taken hostage by Abu Sayyaf Muslim guerrillas in the southern Philippines in May last year.
"Martin is dead," the general said. "Gracia has been rescued, but she is wounded," he said without elaborating.
The rescue attempt was mounted in the early afternoon near the town of Siraway on Mindanao island's Zamboanga peninsula, said the general, who asked not to be named.
The Philippine military believes that for most of their ordeal, the Burnhams were held hostage on the nearby southern island of Basilan, where US troops are helping to hunt down the Abu Sayyaf rebels.