MANILA, Philippines — U.S.-backed soldiers with night-vision goggles combed dense southern Philippine jungles Thursday in pursuit of kidnappers who dragged three Red Cross workers from their vehicle at gunpoint, in the country’s most high-profile foreign kidnapping in eight years.
An army general said they hoped to rescue the workers from Italy, Switzerland and the Philippines before they’re handed over to Muslim militants notorious for holding hostages for ransom.
The gunmen on motorcycles intercepted a vehicle carrying the three representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross on their way to Jolo airport on the southern island, where al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf *militants are known to hide.
The driver and two other Filipinos were released and reported the incident, Philippine National Red Cross chairman Richard Gordon told The Associated Press.
