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WASHINGTON - The United States played a crucial but almost "invisible" role in finding and killing Abu Sayyaf leader Abu Sabaya by using a tracking device sewn into his backpack's fabric and plotting his movements with unmanned Predators and high-flying surveillance aircraft, The Atlantic magazine reported.In an article in its March issue, the magazine said the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the US military targeted Sabaya, whose real name was Aldam Tilao, and his group after they kidnapped American missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham and another American Guillermo Sobero in May 2001 holding them for ransom. “His removal by Philippine...

E-mail Author Author Archive Send to a Friend Version April 10, 2006, 7:27 a.m. Connections Papers reveal Iraq-al Qaeda ties — again. With conservative congressional majorities at risk in next November's midterm election, President Bush repeatedly should remind everyone that a key reason Coalition troops invaded Iraq was to padlock Saddam Hussein's Wal-Mart for terrorists. Pressured by congressmen and journalists, the administration finally has started releasing intelligence documents captured in Baghdad. These papers confirm what The Weekly Standard’s Stephen Hayes, Wall Street Journal editorialists, and I have demonstrated for years: Saddam Hussein indeed was entwined with terrorists in general...

ZAMBOANGA -- Government troops have arrested an alleged Abu Sayyaf leader linked to the abduction of three American tourists in the southern Philippines, the military said Thursday. Usman Lijal and a bodyguard were detained in a raid of his hideout at a Muslim community on the outskirts of this southern city late Wednesday, said Major General Trifonio Salazar, head of the Army's First Infantry Division. The raiders also seized weapons from the house, where at least one other suspect escaped, the general told reporters. "We finally got him," Salazar said. "It's the result of a long surveillance operation that...

Gracia busy as book release date approaches SANFORD, Florida (April 30, 2003): With the official release of Gracia Burnham's book set for next week, many interviews, reviews and features are scheduled. In the Presence of My Enemies, which she co-wrote with Dean Merrill, is to be officially released May 4, and is already available in some bookstores. Several broadcast interviews are scheduled: * NBC's Today Show on May 2 is to feature excerpts from Katie Couric's Dateline NBC interview with Gracia. * Dateline NBC on May 4 is to air a one-hour special on Gracia's story. * MSNBC and CNBC...

Gracia Burnham's book is available from New Tribes Mission at a discount from what it will retail for. Here's the website. http://www.ntm.org/connect/burnham/update.shtml For those of you who may not know, Gracia and her husband Martin were held by Abu Sayyaf terrorists for over a year. Martin was killed in the ambush as well as a Filipina nurse, Deborah Yap. Gracia had a bullet through her thigh. This story is about their year in captivity.

ZAMBOANGA, Philippines, Dec 06, 2002 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- Soldiers have captured a suspected Muslim extremist who was allegedly involved in the kidnapping and beheading of an American hostage last year in the southern Philippines, an army commander said Saturday. Abu Baidar, alleged member of the extremist group Abu Sayyaf, was captured Friday in a remote village on Basilan island after residents tipped off the military to his presence, Basilan army commander Col. Bonifacio Ramos said. Ramos said Baidar is suspected of taking part in the raid on the Dos Palmas resort in May 2001 when the Abu...

Abu Sabaya still alive, says priest ABU SABAYA is alive. He was sighted a day after Malacañang trumpeted his demise in June throwing a party in Tuburan municipality in Basilan province. He had good reason to celebrate: He is "alive and the group is intact." Fr. Cirilo Nacorda made this disclosure Thursday to the INQUIRER before he spoke before the Rotary Club of Manila at the Manila Hotel. During the open forum following his speech, Nacorda, who’s the parish priest of St. Peter Parish in Lamitan, Basilan, repeated that Sabaya was alive. Nacorda said that Sabaya’s group was "possibly"...

Settling in SANFORD, Florida (Aug. 1, 2002): After a memorable time in Washington, DC, the Burnham family is settling into life in Rose Hill, Kansas. While Gracia and her children, and Paul and Oreta Burnham, were on their trip to the nation's Capitol, family and friends in Rose Hill decided to prepare a surprise -- turning the house that has been temporarily provided for Gracia into a "home." They found and arranged furniture and kitchen items, then added other welcoming touches. And Rose Hill Bible Church organized a food drive. The surprise worked. Teresa Burnham, Gracia's sister-in-law, wrote, "It was...

Rumors persist that Abu Sayyaf leader, believed killed in clash at sea, still alive MANILA, Philippines, Aug 01, 2002 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- A top Philippine general says he'll bet a month's salary that a notorious Muslim guerrilla leader died in a bloody sea skirmish six weeks ago. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo says she's convinced, too. Even so, rumors persist that Sabaya - blamed for leading a yearlong kidnapping spree that left two Americans and 18 Filipinos dead - survived. Some say he is still with the Abu Sayyaf, a criminal Islamic gang linked to the al-Qaida terror...

President Bush hugs Oreta Burnham, mother of slain missionary Martin Burnham, during a meeting with Gracia Burnham, second right, and her family in the Oval Office of the White House Wednesday, July 24, 2002. Missionaries from Kansas, Gracia Burnham and her husband, Martin, were held captive by Abu Sayyaf terrorists in the Philippines for more than a year before Mr. Burnham was killed during their rescue in June. Accompanying Gracia Burnham were her parents and children, Melinda Joy, 12, far left, Jeffrey Paul, 15, far right. (AP Photo/Paul Morse, White House) Abu Sayyaf must pay for my husband's death...

WASHINGTON – The United States Tuesday charged leaders of the al-Qaeda-linked Filipino guerrilla group Abu Sayyaf in the kidnappings of three US nationals that led to the deaths of two of them. The federal charges against five suspected guerrilla leaders were announced by Larry Thompson, the deputy US attorney general, and built on an indictment filed by a federal grand jury in February. "The indictment charges the five named defendants with conspiracy resulting in death, hostage-taking and three counts of hostage-taking resulting in death," Thompson said. Martin and Gracia Burnham, missionaries from Kansas who had lived in the Philippines...

Macapagal calls off search for Sabaya body PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Wednesday ordered troops to 'call-off' the search for Abu Sabaya's body, saying they should concentrate on the manhunt for Abu Sayyaf leaders who are still alive. "The 50 thousand-peso reward is there for the fishermen to look for him and if the Navy seals of the US will be made available, then let's have a smaller unit of ours so it's not all being done by the Americans alone," Ms Macapagal said in a speech aired over the state-owned Radyo ng Bayan. "But I think the bulk of...

'Dead' Abu Sayyaf leader seen on Basilan Mounting doubts over Friday's reported killing of Abu Sabaya by Philippines special forces as body is still not found MANILA - Scepticism deepened yesterday over reports that Abu Sayyaf leader Abu Sabaya was killed in a clash with troops, as a military search for his body entered the third day. Mounting doubts were aired in the local media and coincided with a reported sighting in the southern town of Maluso on Basilan island, a known stronghold of the Al-Qaeda-linked group. A military source claimed the bandit - who has a US$5-million (S$8.9...

ZAMBOANGA CITY -- Abu Sabaya ordered his men to shoot dead American hostage Martin Burnham if soldiers got too close, a captured Abu Sayyaf bandit was quoted on Sunday as saying. Toto Aluk, also known as "Ayub," was shown on videotape taken by the military saying that Sabaya, the Abu Sayyaf spokesperson who was believed killed in a gun battle on Friday, issued the order to kill Martin Burnham. The US missionary, who was seized at Palawan’s Dos Palmas Resort and held hostage for about a year, was killed in a military rescue operation in Sirawai, Zamboanga del Norte,...

ZAMBOANGA CITY - A three-engine speedboat that Abu Sayyaf spokesperson Abu Sabaya had used to seize American hostages in Palawan was the same boat that government forces used Friday to pursue and "kill" him off the coast of Sibuco, Zamboanga del Norte. The Philippine Navy recovered the speedboat last year in Cagayan de Tawi-Tawi, a transit point for the bandits who proceeded to Basilan from Puerto Princesa, Palawan, after seizing 20 hostages, including American couple Gracia and Martin Burnham. Maj. Gen. Ernesto Carolina, chief of the military's Southern Command, said he was sure that Sabaya was dead. "I don't...

(First of two parts) ZAMBOANGA CITY--When the Scout Rangers finally caught up with the Abu Sayyaf bandits guarding hostages Martin and Gracia Burnham and Edibora Yap, the soldiers opened fire even without a "visual" of the hostages, the Inquirer learned over the weekend. But the "disoriented" bandits returned fire "indiscriminately" with automatic weapons and M203s, the company commander in charge of the operation said. "I'm convinced it was not us who killed them," said 1st Lt. Oliver Almonares, who gave the order to the 15th Scout Ranger Company to engage the bandits on the fateful afternoon of June 7....

FINAL SCORE We all know Martin and Gracia, even if we have never met. They were on our radios, church prayer requests, on our TV sets. I remember that famous video, in my mind it's still planted. All Gracia wanted was privacy, things I take for granted. We all could probably confess, we never seem content, That little short video changed my life, you cannot know what it meant. All this was no accident, this last year fits God's plan, While we were in our comfort zone, The Burnhams hid and ran. But Gracia let me tell you, through all...

Jody, as Field Chairman of NTM in the Philippines was among the first people to get to visit with Gracia at the hospital she was evacuated to. The following is from him: Following is a testimony that I shared this morning here in Manila at ourlocal church, Christ Commission Fellowship. Jody Crain > Philippians 1:10-14 "I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until Christ returns. "May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation -- those good things that are produced in your life by Jesus Christ --...

AND NOW there are only nine. The number of Abu Sayyaf bandits, who guarded Martin and Gracia Burnham and Ediborah Yap in Sirawai, Zamboanga del Norte, has dropped to less than 10 following the capture of an alleged bodyguard of Abu Sabaya, Abu Sayyaf’s spokesperson. Basir Ordoñez was captured in Barangay Culasian, a half kilometer from the site of Friday’s encounter that resulted in the deaths of hostages Martin Burnham and Ediborah Yap, police announced Tuesday. Senior Supt. Leonardo Espina, national police spokesperson, said elements of the 6th Scout Rangers Company arrested Ordoñez Tuesday morning. No firearm was recovered...

June 11, 2002 Gracia flies out ofRP, calls for justice MANILA -- US missionary Gracia Burnham, widowed at the end of a year-long hostage ordeal, urged the Philippines Monday to bring to justice her rebel captors as she flew home to be reunited with her three children. Wheel-chair bound and with her right leg heavily bandaged due to a bullet wound, she made a short, emotional statement at Manila airport in her first public appearance since Friday's bloody rescue attempt in which her husband Martin and a Filipina hostage were killed. Manila has insisted that the rescue attempt in...

MANILA (Reuters) - Rescued American hostage Gracia Burnham said on Monday before flying home to the United States that Muslim guerrillas in the Philippines who kept her hostage for more than a year should be brought to justice. "During our ordeal, we were repeatedly lied to by the Abu Sayyaf and they are not men of honor. They should be treated as common criminals. We support all efforts of the government in bringing these men to justice," Gracia Burnham said, with tears glistening in her eyes and her voice trembling. She was rescued in southern Zamboanga del Norte province on...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted on Sat, Jun. 08, 2002 Burnhams: Waiting for final reunion A little more than a year after Martin and Gracia Burnham were captured by Muslim rebels in the Philippines, their long ordeal is over. The agony of waiting by family and friends, the fervent prayers offered for their safe return, the hopes raised and dashed by reports of their possible release have also come to an end. In a pre-dawn rescue attempt Friday by a Philippine army team, Martin was killed and Gracia was wounded. She's recovering in a Philippine hospital. "I cry with my voice to the...

WHAT YOU CAN DO Condolences and messages of encouragement for the Burnham family can be mailed to: New Tribes Mission, 1000 E. First St., Sanford, FL 32771. Rose Hill Bible Church, Rosewood and Main, Rose Hill, KS 67133. Send the family e-mails through New Tribes Mission at ntm@ntm.org. Donations can be sent to: Martin and Gracia Burnham Benefit Fund C/O: Rose Hill Bank P.O. Box 68 Rose Hill, KS 67133 Burnham Family Trust C/O: Valley View Bank 7500 W. 95th Street Overland Park, KS 66212

ZAMBOANGA CITY — A wounded soldier recalled on Saturday a heartrending sight moments after the bloody battle with the Abu Sayyaf bandit group near the town of Sirawai in Zamboanga del Norte on Friday. Gracia Burnham, wearing a black sweatshirt and gray trainer pants, sat slumped on the forest floor beside a hammock amid heavy rain, crying silently beside her dead husband, Martin Burnham. "Martin lay prone beside her," Army Scout Ranger Rodelio Tuazon told the Agence France Presse beside his hospital bed here. "She knew he was dead." Martin had apparently tried to protect his wife up to...

The Armed Forces deployed ground, air and naval forces yesterday to block all escape routes from Zamboanga del Norte and President Macapagal-Arroyo asked Malaysia and Indonesia to apprehend fleeing Abu Sayyaf rebels. As frustrated troops scoured the rugged terrain of Sirawai and Sibuco towns for Abu Sabaya, Isnilon Hapilon and other Abu Sayyaf leaders, the Chief Executive issued “search and destroy” for the guerrillas. “What you did to Abubakar is what you do to the Abu Sayyaf,” the President addressed soldiers during a press conference at the Seafront residential compound of the US Embassy, where she visited lone hostage survivor...

Kadena Air Base, Japan - (AP) -- What went wrong? Officials say it may take time to figure out the details of Friday's tragic rescue attempt in the Philippines. The body of dead missionary Martin Burnham is now at a US military base on the Japanese island of Okinawa, where an autopsy will be done to determine how he was shot. A Filipino hostage also died and Burnham's wife, Gracia, was wounded. She is still in the Philippines. The Pentagon says American forces helped plan the raid but it was carried out by Philippine troops. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld...

ZAMBOANGA – A wounded Filipino soldier recalled Saturday a heartrending sight of two US missionary hostages he found moments after a battle with Muslim rebels in the southern Philippines. Gracia Burnham, wearing a black sweatshirt and gray trainer pants, sat slumped on the forest floor beside a hammock amid heavy rain, crying silently beside her dead husband Martin Burnham. "Martin lay prone beside her," Army Scout Ranger Rodelio Tuazon told AFP beside his hospital bed here, recalling Friday's bloody military operation near the town of Sirawai. "She knew he was dead." He recalled the woman asking "if we got...

TALLINN, Estonia, June 7, 2002 – The U.S. Defense Department found out about the Philippine hostage rescue when the rest of the world did, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said. Rumsfeld told reporters traveling with him during a 10-day trip overseas that the Pentagon had no prior knowledge of the rescue mission in which American missionary Martin Burnham and Filipino nurse Deborah Yap were killed. Yap, Burnham and his wife Gracia had been hostages of the Abu Sayyaf guerillas on Basilan Island in the Philippines for more than a year. Gracia Burnham was injured in the attack and was evacuated...

ROSE HILL - Ever since Philippine rebels abducted missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham more than a year ago, people have gathered at their hometown church -- Rose Hill Bible Church -- at 6 every morning to pray for their safe release. Relatives and friends of the couple prayed again this morning -- even with the fresh and painful knowledge that Martin had been killed and Gracia wounded in a military rescue operation. They prayed, said Leslie Edgington, because "that's the way we speak to God." They did not show tears. They did not show anger. They said their faith...

MR. BOUCHER: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. It's a pleasure to be here. I think you've all seen the statement that we just issued on behalf of the Secretary on the death of Mr. Burnham in the Philippines. We are of course deeply saddened -- QUESTION: I don't think that's out.QUESTION: Yes, it's out.MR. BOUCHER: It's out. Okay.QUESTION: The firewall is slower than normal.MR. BOUCHER: It's out electronically; is that it? Okay, let me just reiterate what the Secretary says. First of all, he and all of us here are deeply saddened by news of the deaths of Martin...

PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo reiterated her previous vow to crush the Abu Sayyaf after American Martin Burnham and Filipino Ediborah Yap were killed Friday afternoon in the course of military operations against the Abu Sayyaf in the hinterlands of the Zamboanga peninsula. “The terrorists shall not be allowed to get away with this,” she declared. “We shall not stop until the Abu Sayyaf is finished.” In Washington, US President George W. Bush said he was assured by Ms Macapagal that “justice would be done” to the terrorists. He said his counterpart had called him and that “she assured me that...

<p>MANILA, Philippines (CNN) -- A Filipina nurse and a U.S. missionary held hostage by Muslim rebels for more than a year have been killed during a rescue attempt, according to Philippine military officials.</p> <p>Martin Burnham, from Kansas, and Deborah Yap, a nurse, were killed in an intense firefight between the Abu Sayyaf rebels and the Filipino forces, according to the official.</p>

Killed Burnham, its wounded but released wife Friday June 07, 2002 - 8h27 GMT ZAMBOANGA (the Philippines), June 7 (AFP) - the American hostage Martin Burhnam was killed while his wife, blessée, were released at the time of an operation of help carried out by the army philippine Friday, indicated a General Filipino to the AFP. The General was not able to specify the gravity of the wounds of Gracia Burnham.

ZAMBOANGA City — American troops dispatched to Basilan for training and to assist Filipino soldiers in combating the Abu Sayyaf are ready to be deployed "anytime" to areas closer to the bandits’ camps, a US military official said yesterday. The Filipino soldiers stationed in Basilan said they are ready to go, hand in hand with their Green Beret advisers. Army 103rd Brigade commander Col. Alexander Aleo said his men are ready to secure the 160 US Special Forces personnel against possible attacks by the Abu Sayyaf when they move down to the company level, the second phase of the Balikatan...

Burnhams could be dead: US admitsBy Froilan Gallardo A ranking official of the US military forces who are helping the Philippine military rescue American hostages Martin and Gracia Burnham admitted Saturday that the couple could be dead. Brig. Gen. Donald Wurster, commander of the US forces in Mindanao, said the search for the Burnhams and Filipino nurse Ediborah Yap has not produced any encouraging leads on their whereabouts. This is the first such official admission by a US official on the search for the missionaries, who were kidnapped along with 22 others at the Dos Palmas resort in Palawan...

ZAMBOANGA CITY — Six Abu Sayyaf bandits were killed and several others wounded after government troops stormed over the weekend a terrorist hideout in Indanan town in Sulu, the military reported yesterday. But one still unidentified government trooper was killed while three others were wounded as they swooped down on Sunday on the lair of Abu Jamdain, alias Abu Pula, in Barangay Karawan in Indanan, according to Army Col. Romeo Tolentino. Abu Pula was among the Abu Sayyaf leaders who allegedly planned and carried out the kidnapping of dozens of European and Asian guests of two beach resorts on Sipadan...

The United States is asking the Philippine government to allow the deployment of one of its aircraft carriers — the Japan-based USS Kitty Hawk — in the Sulu Sea, a top US defense official said yesterday. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, who arrived yesterday for talks with President Arroyo, also said American troops are likely to remain in Basilan to continue helping the Phi-lippine military fight the Abu Sayyaf. Deploying the Kitty Hawk in the Sulu Sea would put Basilan within easy striking distance of the ship’s 70 combat aircraft. If the Kitty Hawk is deployed in the Sulu Sea...

MALACAÑANG will let the military consider a reported proposal by the United States to have American forces in Basilan join pursuit operations against the Abu Sayyaf. Acting Press Secretary Silvestre Afable Jr. said on Thursday President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was not blocking the idea at the moment. He said the government will let any recommendations from the US "go through the proper channels." Afable’s statement came on the eve of the arrival in the country of US Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, who is set to meet with President Macapagal and local officials on the global war against terrorism....

ZAMBOANGA – Abu Sayyaf guerrillas said in a message broadcast Thursday they would free a Filipina nurse held captive for nearly a year. "We will free Deborah Yap," Muslim guerrilla leader Abu Sabaya said over Radio Mindanao Network here in a telephone interview. The station said the Abu Sayyaf leader called up late Wednesday, hours after the US government offered a 25-million-dollar reward for the capture of Sabaya and four other top leaders of Abu Sayyaf, which Washington describes as a terrorist group. The gunmen also hold hostage US Christian missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham in their southern...

THE United States yesterday offered a bounty of up to $5 million for any information that would lead to the arrest or conviction of the Abu Sayyaf terrorists responsible for the abduction of Americans Martin and Gracia Burnham. US Ambassador to the Philippines Francis Ricciardone announced the offer during a press conference, saying this is part of Washington’s initiative called the Rewards for Justice program aimed at boosting its international campaign against terrorism. Significantly, the offer coincided with a Pentagon announcement of a visit next week by US Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz to the Philippines to discuss the war...

<p>Yesterday marked the one-year anniversary of the kidnapping of American missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham from a Philippine resort. Yet it appears that the U.S. military may soon wrap up its training mission in that Asian country no closer to having retrieved the couple.</p>

Please remember to pray for the Burnhams today (and everyday) as they are entering into their second year of captivity. Their children are 15,13, and 11. Pray for them as well as their extended family. Pray for wisdom for their mission leaders as well as others who are working on obtaining their freedom.

Top military officials said yesterday they have received reports that kidnapped Filipino nurse Deborah Yap has married one of her captors, Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon, in Muslim rites in the jungles of Basilan. Yap is believed to be suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, a condition in which a kidnap victim sympathizes with his or her captors. She was snatched from the Dr. Jose Torres Hospital in Lamitan town in Basilan as the Islamist rebels fled intensified military operations on June 2 last year. Col. Alexander Aleo, commander of the Army’s 103rd Brigade, said his unit received the information from arrested...

TO evade and mislead pursuing government troops, the Abu Sayyaf has separated American missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham, a military official bared yesterday. Col. Alexander Aleo, chief of the Army’s 103rd Brigade said the latest information on the Burnhams was relayed to the military by arrested Abu members during tactical interrogation. Aleo’s unit is the main group tasked with rescuing the hostages. Pressed for more details on the whereabouts of the Burnhams, Aleo refused to comment saying it could jeopardize “ongoing operations.” But Aleo said the Burnhams, although separated, are still in Basilan. In a related development, Aleo said...

ZAMBOANGA CITY, PHILIPPINES (ANS) -- About 600 US green berets and 60 soldiers of the Light Reaction Company finished an extensive training and are set to lead in the rescue operation of American missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham under the captivity of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG). The ASG is a Moslem fundamentalist terrorist group operating in the Southern Philippines which the FBI confirmed has strong links with the Al Qa'ida network in Afghanistan. Armed Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Roy Cimatu told reporters that the joint mission has prepared three bullets "two of which will be fired...

ZAMBOANGA CITY — Abu Sayyaf leader Khadaffy Janjalani has ordered his liquidation squad in Zamboanga City to kill the group’s spokesman, Aldam Tilao alias Abu Sabaya, newly designated Southern Command chief, Maj. Gen. Ernesto Carolina confirmed yesterday. This developed as Carolina vowed to pursue the military’s campaign to flush out the bandits with “the same dedication, intensity and sense of urgency” as what his predecessor did. In an earlier interview, AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Roy Cimatu disclosed the infighting among members of the extremist group. Cimatu, quoting a report, said American couple and Filipina nurse Ediborah Yap are “still...

Military confirming reports Abus set to free ill hostage THE MILITARY is looking into reports the Abu Sayyaf group will soon release one of its American hostages reportedly ill with malaria and urinary tract infection. "As of now we haven't received any report . . . but we are looking into that," Southern Command official Col. Fredesvindo Covarrubias said in a television interview. Earlier reports said the Abu bandits would free hostage Gracia Burnham for humanitarian reasons. The Abu Sayyaf holds Gracia, her husband Martin Burnham, and Filipina nurse Ediborah Yap hostage for almost a year now. "We hope...

MANILA, the Philippines (May 14, 2002): Recent unconfirmed reports indicate that, after nearly a year in captivity, kidnapped NTM missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham are not well. It is being reported that Martin is suffering from, or has recently suffered from, malaria. Gracia is said to be seriously ill from an infection. It is even being reported that the kidnappers are considering releasing Gracia, lest she die. However, like many reports over the last year, none of this can be confirmed. New Tribes Mission's Crisis Teams in Manila and the USA are continuing to work around the clock to track...

SANFORD, Florida (May 3, 2002): This week has seen an increase in concern for captive NTM missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham. Aby Sabaya, a spokesman for the kidnappers, and the Philippine government have been engaged in a war of words. These statements cannot be taken lightly, and we ask that Christians continue to pray for the safety and well-being of Martin and Gracia. A recent report originating from with the group that is holding the Burnhams has said that Martin and Gracia are doing well but are tired. They are being held together, and their fellow hostage, Filipina nurse Deborah...