Associated Press
Manila, Philippines – July 19, 2007 – An Italian missionary priest kidnapped more than a month ago has been released after negotiations with a rogue faction of a Muslim separatist group, Philippine police said Friday.
The Rev. Giancarlo Bossi, 57, was kidnapped June 10 in the Southeast Asian nation’s volatile south.
Chief Superintendent Jaime Caringal, a regional police commander, said the Roman Catholic priest was freed at about 9 p.m. Thursday along the boundary between Lanao Del Sur and Lanau Del Norte provinces. “He is well, but he lost a lot of weight,” Caringal said.
In Rome, Italian Premier Romano Prodi announced the release. “Father Giancarlo Bossi has been freed … I’m truly emotional, happy,” Prodi said. “Today is his mother’s birthday, so it was also a very lucky coincidence.”
On July 10, a Philippine marine convoy searching for Bossi was ambushed by Muslim insurgents in jungle on the southern island of Basilan, and 14 troops were killed. The military blamed the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf for the clash.
Pope Benedict XVI said last week that he was praying daily for Bossi, and Italy sent a longtime diplomat, Margherita Boniver, to the Philippines to work for his release. Benedict received the news of Bossi’s release with “great joy,” according to Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi.
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