Basilan town vice mayor freed by kidnappers

MANILA, Philippines — Police say a southern town vice mayor who was reportedly abducted outside a shopping mall earlier this week has been released.

Zamboanga city police spokesman Alex Mabalot says an anti-kidnapping task force informed authorities in Zamboanga where Arsina Nanoh was last seen Tuesday that she was freed the following day in another southern city.

Mabalot said Friday that Nanoh, vice mayor of Hadji Muhtamad town in nearby Basilan province and a gold jewelry trader, was freed in a city north of Zamboanga. He says she later flew to Manila where she was reunited with her husband. Mabalot says he does not know if a ransom was paid.

Nanoh’s is the latest in a series of abductions in the troubled southern region where militants are holding two European bird watchers.

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Basilan town vice mayor reportedly abducted