Talks Reportedly Begin for Americans’ Release
Negotiations have begun for the release of an American couple being held by Muslim extremists in the southern Philippines, a radio station reported.
The family of Martin and Gracia Burnham of Wichita, Kan., has appointed a Filipino negotiator “close to the family,” the Radio Mindanao Network said without identifying its source.
The network often receives calls from Abu Sabaya, a leader of the Abu Sayyaf group, which abducted the Burnhams--along with Guillermo Sobero of Corona, Calif., and 17 Filipinos--from an island resort in the western Philippines on May 27.
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