Sunday May 27 3:46 AM ET

Philippine Gunmen Seize 20. including 3 Americans

By Celeste Anna Formoso

PUERTO PRINCESA, Philippines (Reuters) - Gunmen believed to be Muslim rebels seized 20 people on Sunday including three American tourists in a dawn raid on a resort in the southern Philippines, government officials said.

Hours after the attack on Dos Palmas resort off Palawan island, a motorboat believed to be carrying the gunmen and their hostages was spotted by military aircraft near the maritime border with Malaysia, said national security adviser Roilo Golez.

``We are conducting pursuit operations. ... We have deployed navy vessels in the area,'' Golez said.

``They are traveling slowly apparently because of the many people on board,'' Golez said.

The military described the raiders as ``terrorists'' while a police officer said they were believed to Muslim separatist Abu Sayyaf rebels.

Military officers at first said two of the kidnapped tourists were American and the third was from Spain but police and presidential spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao later said all three of the foreigners were American. Thirteen domestic tourists and four resort guards and staff were also abducted.

The Abu Sayyaf group sparked worldwide outrage last year when they snatched more than 40 foreigners and Filipinos from two tourist resorts in Malaysia and from Jolo island in the southern Philippines.

Many of those victims were released after big ransoms were paid. Some were rescued by soldiers and others escaped. One Filipino resort worker kidnapped is still held.

``EVERYONE WAS STUNNED''

The masked gunmen raided the resort on Arrecifi island, near the Palawan provincial capital Puerto Princesa, at about 5 a.m., police said.

Holding resort guards at gunpoint, some of the raiders broke into cottages where tourists were sleeping and grabbed them.

``It all happened very quickly. Everyone was stunned and no one could talk... It was all over in 15 to 20 minutes,'' said resort security officer Rudy Gordono.

Golez told a radio station the motorboat believed carrying the kidnappers and hostages was spotted near Bugsuk on the southern tip of Palawan, near the border with Malaysia.

Bugsuk, about 510 miles southwest of Manila, is part of the Palawan island group. Golez said the boat was still in Philippine waters.

NO RANSOM FOR HOSTAGES

Golez told Reuters Television the government had not received any ransom demands.

``But if ransom or money is their primary objective, we would like to reiterate to them the no-ransom policy of the government,'' he said.

``We are not sure yet if they are Abu Sayyaf,'' he said.

The Abu Sayyaf is the smaller but more radical of two groups fighting for an Islamic state in the south of the mainly Roman Catholic country.

The main insurgent group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, is soon to hold peace talks with Manila on ending their decades-old separatist rebellion.

A Palawan police officer said the raiders' motorboat was the same type used by the Abu Sayyaf.

The raiders were also heard using the Tausog dialect spoken by southern Muslims and by Abu Sayyaf guerrillas, the officer said.

All other tourist resorts on Palawan have been put on alert and navy ships as well air force helicopters had stepped up security around the island, the military said.

It was the second attack by gunmen on a tourist resort in the country's volatile south in five days. Just before midnight last Tuesday gunmen attacked a resort on the southern island of Samal,
killing two people and snatching two Filipino hostages. They were later released.

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