Page 6 WORLD Tuesday, May 29,2C(i THE BATTALION South China Sea Gunmen fled by boat with about 20 hostages including 3 American tourists 0 200 km PHILIPPINES Luzon ©Manila Threat issued by extremist group Philippine Sea I ■ /V MALAYSIA .JM 1 ' AP MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Muslim extremist group on Monday is sued a veiled threat to harm 20 kid napped tourists — including three Americans — while the Philippines president said she would use everything in her power to “crush” the insurgents. One of the leaders of the Abu Sayyaf rebel group that kidnapped the tourists claimed responsibility in a satellite telephone call to a local radio station Monday. The rebel, named Abu Sabaya, allowed American Mar tin Burnham and another hostage to speak too. “We are safe and we are appealing for a peaceful negotiations,” Burnham said. “They are treating us well.” President Gloria Macapagal Ar royo said she would not give in to any ransom demands and instead offered $2 million in rewards for the capture of rebel leaders. “I am ready to do everything to crush the bandits, to allow the hostages to safely return to their fam ilies and to bring back peace,” Arroyo said on national television. “To the bandits ... listen closely. I will finish what you have started — force against force, weapons against weapons. They will only stop hunting you when you’re all wiped out or all of you surrender,” she said. The group kidnapped three Amer icans and 17 Filipinos from the up scale Dos Palmas Island Resort in Palawan province on Sunday. The same group seized 10 foreign tourists 13 months ago from a Malaysian resort. Most were released for large ransoms, reportedly paid by Libya. The story was in the headlines for months, hurting the tourism in dustry and undercutting investor confidence. Claiming he led Sunday’s dawn raid, Sabaya issued a veiled threat against the hostages, particularly the Americans. He told radio RMN that Jeffrey Schilling, an Oakland, Calif., man whom the military freed from the Abu Sayyaf in an April raid after eight months of captivity, was not seriously harmed because he was a Muslim convert. Burnham and his wife, Gracia, who went to the resort to celebrate their 18th wedding anniversary, are both Protestant missionaries who haveliv in the Philippines since 1986. Thi are originally from Wichita, Kan. The third American was idendfii as Guillermo Sobero, of Corona, “What 1 can say is we should compare Jeffrey because Jeffrey Muslim, so we hesitated to hurt Now, we have three Americans, hard for us to be shamed,” Sabaya si; Sabaya made no specific demaa but said he was willing to talktoti government: “Ifyou want to negoti: uper ummer r i' 1 tigs $ 5 OFF BODY PIERCING Single Needle Use • Autoclave Sterilization • Privacy Available • Female Body Piercer - Class of '98 Licensed by The Texas Department of Flealth 317 DOMINIK DR. College Station Limit (1) coupon per person. Not valid with any other special. Expires 07/28/01. » a****® » * ***** « '****« « ~ 764-8898 PRO-NAILS