Hunt intensifies for gunmen behind tourist kidnapping at Malaysian resort

April 25, 2000

SEMPORNA, Malaysia -- The Malaysian military said its navy was on the trail of kidnappers in southeast Asian seas, after masked assailants carrying automatic rifles and a rocket launcher stormed one of the world's top diving resorts and sped off with 20 hostages.

CNN's Maria Ressa confirmed the Philippine Islamic separatist group, Abu Sayyaf, admitted Tuesday it was responsible for the kidnappings.

Malaysian Defense Minister Najib Tun Razak said that an air-and-sea search team had determined where the hostages -- half of whom were foreign tourists -- were being held, following their abduction the previous evening on the lush Sipadan Island in eastern Malaysia.

"We now know their exact location," Najib said without giving details. The Philippine and Malaysian navies were coordinating the rescue effort.

An American couple escaped the Sunday night raid, refusing to swim out to the kidnappers' boats and then hiding overnight in nearby bushes.

Malaysian police said they suspected "political motives" were behind the attack. "We believe a foreign element is involved," Inspector General of Police Norian Mai said.

The attack began when six masked gunmen, carrying AK-47s and a rocket launcher and speaking a Philippine language, grabbed tourists and workers and confiscated their cash and jewelry, Norian said.

A local marine photographer said one of the attackers identified himself as a police officer and told him to give up his watch and cellular phone.

"At first I thought he was joking ... but when I refused to obey his orders, he held a gun to my head," Danny Chin, 48, was quoted as saying by the national news agency Bernama.

Chin said he hid in the woods while the kidnappers ransacked the resort.

The attackers then forced their hostages to swim a distance to two fishing boats, which then sped away and appeared to be heading into Philippine waters, officials said.

Two of the captives -- James and Mary Murphy, both 51, of Rochester, New York -- managed to escape. Eyewitnesses said Mary Murphy didn't know how to swim, and her husband told the assailants they'd have to shoot him if they forced her into the water. The kidnappers apparently let them go, and the American couple ran into the bushes and hid until dawn.

The Murphys, who have been living in Australia the past two years, arrived in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, on Monday evening but said they didn't want to talk to the media extensively until the hostages are released.

"I don't want to do anything that would endanger their lives," James Murphy told The Associated Press at the airport. "We haven't slept yet, but yes, we are fine."

The hostages forced onto the fishing boats included two French tourists, three Germans, two South Africans, two Finns and one Lebanese, as well as a Filipino worker and nine Malaysians, authorities said.

Col. Ernesto de Guzman, chief of staff of the Philippine military's Southern Command, said officials were trying to determine whether there was a connection with an ongoing hostage situation on the southern Philippine island of Basilan, about 275 miles (440 kilometers) northeast of Semporna, the port from which tourists take boats for Sapidan.

In Basilan, Philippine troops shelled rebel camps Monday as soldiers battled their way up a mountain where Muslim extremists were holding 27 captives. The Abu Sayyaf rebels, who are fighting for an independent Islamic state in the predominantly Catholic Philippines, are demanding the release of Muslim militants jailed in the United States.

Philippine national police deputy director Gen. Reynaldo Wycoco told reporters that the kidnappers spoke Tausug, a language spoken in parts of the southern Philippines, but not Basilan.

"They were headed toward Philippine waters but this is a very vast area," he said. "It could be that they were just passing through and they could also turn and head toward Indonesia."

Since 1969, Malaysia and Indonesia have both claimed sovereignty over Sipadan and Ligitan, another Celebes Sea island. But there were no indications that the hostage-takers were involved in the territorial dispute.

Chong Kah Kiat, tourism minister for Sabah, said he was concerned that the attack would scare off the 400,000 tourists who visit Sabah beaches and rain forests every year.

Meanwhile, at the airport in Kuala Lumpur, Mary Murphy was close to tears.

"We really need to talk to our children," she told the AP. "We really want to get to the phone."

Her husband, an executive for Eastman Kodak Co. in Sydney, Australia, said they had not slept since Sunday night but were otherwise fine.

"She's got lots of bites from sleeping in the bushes, a lot of sand fleas," he said, pointing to his wife's legs, which were covered with a rash of insect bites.

As cameras flashed around them, Mary Murphy, wearing plaid Bermuda shorts, said all she wanted was "a good night's sleep and a hot shower."