Briton’s 6-year-old daughter abducted

ZAMBOANGA CITY — Suspected Moro guerrillas abducted a six-year-old British-Filipina girl in the violence-ridden island of Basilan the other day, the military said.

April Adzam "Aiman" Grant, a first grader, was snatched in Lamitan town either by gunmen from the Muslim extremist Abu Sayyaf group or the larger separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the military said.

The girl’s mother, Mina Rasul Grant, told local radio station dxRZ that four gunmen speaking in the local Muslim dialect approached their house and first asked for water to drink but later demanded P1,000 from her.

When she forked over the money, the gunmen demanded an additional P100,000, the mother said. When she said she could not pay them, the suspects grabbed the girl at gunpoint and told her to raise the money.

"I pleaded with them but they did not listen. They threatened to kill my child if I told the police and military," a distraught Grant said.

Mina Grant said her husband, British national Frank Grant, has converted to Islam and is also known by the name Hadji Douglas Abdullah Grant. He is now in Scotland, working on immigration visas for his family.

Col. Fredesvindo Covarrubias, spokesman of the Armed Forces’ Southern Command, said the gunmen brought the girl to a nearby river, where two getaway boats were waiting.

Covarrubias said government troops and civilian militiamen have been dispatched to go after the guerrillas, with initial reports indicating the kidnapping could have been carried out by notorious Abu Sayyaf commander Isnilon Hapilon.

He said they were also looking at the possible involvement of the MILF, the country’s main Muslim insurgent group waging a two-decade rebellion for an independent Islamic state in the South.

MILF leaders were recently charged with murder for allegedly carrying out a wave of bombings in Metro Manila on Dec. 30 that killed 22 people.

"The Abu Sayyaf is a natural suspect but we’re still not sure about it. We also cannot discount possibilities that the incident was perpetrated by the MILF or any other kidnap-for-ransom group in the province," added Brig. Gen. Generoso Senga in Manila.

Both the MILF and the Abu Sayyaf are known to operate in Basilan and dozens of outlying islands surrounding the province, although smaller armed gangs also infest the area.

Covarrubias said troops have been mobilized to scour seven towns in Basilan, while agents of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force have also been dispatched to aid in the hunt.

Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado said he has received an initial report on the incident and was working to establish links with British embassy officials.

"We may have fuller details later in the day," Mercado said.

The British Embassy in Manila, when contacted, said they were aware of the report and would not comment on it at the moment.

The Abu Sayyaf gained international notoriety last year when they abducted dozens of mostly foreign hostages in cross-border raids in two Malaysian resorts. Most of the hostages were freed after reportedly paying millions in dollars in ransom.

The Abu Sayyaf still hold American Jeffrey Craig Schilling and Filipino dive master Roland Ullah in nearby Sulu island, where they are on the run from a military assault launched by the military last year.

Last Monday, Abu Sayyaf stragglers also snatched Filipino-Chinese businessman Steven Chua in Tawi-Tawi. — Roel Pareño, Paolo Romero, Jaime Laude