Soldiers foil kidnap try

COTABATO CITY — Soldiers foiled yesterday an attempt by Pentagon kidnap-for-ransom gang members to snatch a vacationing female overseas contract worker in Kabacan, North Cotabato.

Maj. Julieto Ando, spokesman of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, identified the syndicate’s target as Amina Atogan, of Barangay Banawag, a farming community in Kabacan, 85 kilometers north of this city.

Ando said Atogan, 25, and her friends were dining at a fastfood restaurant in Kabacan’s commercial district when three men, armed with pistols, grabbed and dragged her to a waiting tricycle.

Witnesses quickly reported the incident to a nearby detachment of the Army’s 39th Infantry Battalion.

Soldiers guarding a detachment in Barangay Dagupan, also in Kabacan, intercepted the kidnappers at a roadblock. The armed men jumped out of the tricycle and scampered to different directions, leaving Atogan behind.

Responding combatants of the 39th IB, along with civilian volunteers from a nearby village, later cornered the three kidnappers, identified as Ismael Ambil, Mama Ali, Misuari Macabuat.