RESCUED TAIWAN WOMAN RETURNS HOME

A Taiwanese tourist whose husband was killed by gunmen in a kidnapping at an island resort off Sabah, Malaysian Borneo returned to Taiwan today after she was rescued in the southern Philippines.

Television footage showed Chang An-wei, 59, dressed in a loose T-shirt and wearing sunglasses, walking to a minibus parked at an airport near Taipei after she arrived in the early afternoon, waving briefly to the media and giving a thumbs-up sign.

Taiwanese media said Chang's family allegedly paid the kidnappers around US$300,000 (RM986,000) in ransom to secure her release.

Chang was found by Philippine marines at a village near Talipao, a town on the remote Philippine island of Jolo where Abu Sayyaf Islamic militants are known to operate, and was taken to a local military hospital for a medical check-up.

• Chang and her husband Hsu Li-min were holidaying on Pom Pom island in Semporna Sabah, which is near the Sulu island group that includes Jolo, when gunmen attacked on November 15, kidnapping her and killing her husband, according to Taiwanese officials and media.
• Foreign ministry officials in Taiwan said that Hsu's body was cremated in Malaysia and that his family brought back his ashes to Taiwan last month.

Philippine authorities said the identities of Chang's kidnappers were unknown, though Abu Sayyaf gunmen who are known to carry out kidnappings operate in the area.

Abu Sayyaf gunmen are believed still to hold a number of foreign as well as Filipino hostages on Jolo, including two European birdwatchers and a Japanese treasure hunter, according to Philippine officials.

Source: AFP