The year-long hostage crisis came to a bloody end after a Philippine Army team spotted muddy footprints in mountainous jungle and realized they had found the prey they had been chasing for so long.
During the gunbattle in the Sibuco-Siraway area that started at 2:30 p.m., four Abu Sayyaf bandits were killed and six Army Scout Rangers were wounded, the officials said. Military clearing operations continued late into the night.
Gracia, 43, was wounded in her right leg but is out of danger. She was rushed to the Camp Navarro hospital inside the military’s Southern Command headquarters in Zamboanga City. Gracia was seen clad in camouflage shirt and shorts. Two Huey helicopters airlifted the Burnhams to the Southcom compound.
The military claimed Martin, 42, was executed by the bandits as government troops closed in.
Pvt. Rene Mabilog was with about 40 Philippine Scout Rangers tracking the Abu Sayyaf in the jungles of Zamboanga del Norte. After confirming that the guerrillas were holding the hostages, the soldiers pounced, hostages, about 60 kilometers from Basilan island where the search had been focused for so many months.
"We were following them since last night," Mabilog told The Associated Press in a military hospital where he was being treated for arm wounds. "This morning, we found their tracks and we followed them. There were about 30 of them."
Mabilog said the guerrillas stopped to rest under trees because of heavy rain. The soldiers silently crept within about 30 meters, ready for action.
One soldier reported he spotted the Burnhams, of Wichita, Kansas, about 2:30 p.m.
"When we saw the two Americans there, our CO (commanding officer) gave us the order to open fire," he said. "We opened fire and they fought back."
The firefight raged for about two hours before it tapered off. The troops began a "clearing" maneuver and saw Gracia lying on a river bank with a gunshot wound to her thigh, Mabilog said. "We applied a tourniquet to her wound and carried her away," he said.
"I could see her face was happy," Mabilog said of Mrs. Burnham on the flight to the military hospital in Zamboanga. "But sometimes she would break into tears. She was clutching their pictures. She had many pictures in her bag that she would look at."
Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Gen. Roy Cimatu told a press conference that the bodies of Martin and Yap were found during the clearing operations in the general area of Sibuco-Siraway in Zamboanga del Norte.
In the same press conference, Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes described the rescue operation as "successful and not successful."
Reyes said it has taken the military more than one year to catch up with the Abu Sayyaf rebels, but two of the hostages were killed in the process.
Cimatu said the rescue operation codenamed Operation Daybreak was launched Thursday night, following the sighting again of the Abu Sayyaf rebels in the Sibuco-Siraway area.
An all-Filipino-troop contingent followed the Abu Sayyaf group, but lost track of them due to heavy rains, Cimatu said. Apparently, soldiers overtook the rebels and had to return and eventually the two groups clashed, he said.
Cimatu clarified that there were no US troops involved in the pursuit operations.
"The operations will continue. In fact, I am now going there really to supervise the final phase of the operations that will be conducted against the bandits," he said.
Cimatu, quoting sketchy reports, said earlier that the weather was very bad in the area when Army Scout Rangers of the Task Force Comet clashed with the main Abu Sayyaf group believed to be headed by Aldam Tilao, alias Abu Sabaya, and Isnilo Hapilon. Sabaya eluded arrest, the military admitted.
"Well it is good that I think we have encountered the Abu Sayyaf and in the process there were several casualties on both sides. It is unfortunate that something happened to the hostages. It is really mixed emotions on my side," Cimatu said.
He insisted that the military worked hard to spare the lives of the hostages, but there were "unavoidable circumstances that scuttled" their best intentions.
"We worked hard for this rescue and lost a lot of soldiers in the process," Cimatu said.
It is estimated that 43 soldiers were killed and 120 others wounded since the search and rescue operations were launched following the abduction in May last year.
The Burnhams, members of the New Tribes Mission from Wichita, Kansas, together with 18 others, were abducted by Abu Sayyaf guerrillas from the Dos Palmas beach resort in Palawan on May 27 last year, and were later transferred to Basilan.
Last May 29, the US Embassy announced a $5-million reward for any information that will lead to the release of the Burnhams.
Among the 18 other Dos Palmas hostages was American Guillermo Sobero of Corona, California who was beheaded in June 12 last year.
Yap was taken hostage June 2 last year following a raid by Abu Sayyaf guerrillas on a church-hospital compound in Lamitan, Basilan in an bid to seize medical staff and medicine to treat their wounded comrades.
US media had reported that the guerrillas demanded $1 million in ransom while there were unconfirmed reports that only $300,000 was paid.
Earlier intelligence reports claimed that two pump boats with the guerrillas and hostages on board slipped through Basilan for Zamboanga del Norte.
"Six Army Scout Rangers were wounded in action, four Abu Sayyaf killed, and unfortunately Martin and Yap also died during the gunbattle," Cimatu said.
Cimatu has placed the entire military force in Mindanao on full alert in an anticipation of an all-out strike against the Abu Sayyaf.
He said that with the rescue operations over, they will proceed to the second phase focused on crushing the Abu Sayyaf bandits wherever they may be.
"We will go after them, they may be in Basilan, Sulu, Zamboanga ... wherever they may be," Lt. Gen. Narciso Abaya, AFP vice chief, said.
AFP spokesman Brig. Gen. Eduardo Purificacion, meanwhile, said that the military has enough force in Mindanao to prevent the Abu Sayyaf from launching another round of hostage-taking.
Purificacion’s assurance came after fears were aired that with no hostages to shield them, the guerrillas might try to snatch another group of hostages.
Since Feb. 15, 1,000 US military advisers have been training Filipino troops based in Basilan to hunt down the Abu Sayyaf bandits, a band of Muslims guerrillas with reputed links to Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks in the US.
Gracia "was grazed by a bullet in the leg but is pronounced out of danger already," said Brig. Gen. Emmanuel Teodosio, commander of the Philippine troops involved in the joint anti-terror operations with US soldiers.
Cimatu said the rescue operations were conceptualized on May 27, with the support and advise of US troops.
On May 28, a clash between Philippine soldiers and the Abu Sayyaf in the Sibuco-Siraway area was not publicized in order to deceive the rebels, he said. Three rebels were killed and several soldiers were wounded in the clash.
Cimatu said that as early as May 1, there were sightings of the rebels in the general area of Sibuco-Siraway. – With AFP reports