The United States voiced its concern Sunday over the abduction of three of its citizens by the Abu Sayyaf Muslim guerillas and called for close cooperation among nations to combat such attacks.
"Certainly any country, the Philippines or the United States, in a situation like this, find this development very disturbing and frightening," US senator Richard Lugar told a news conference in Manila.
He was speaking before Philippine police announced that the Abu Sayyaf rebels had killed two Filipinos -- one of them beheaded -- among 20 hostages seized from a tourist resort off the western island of Palawan on May 27.
US missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham, long-time Philippine residents originally from Kansas, and Californian Guillermo Sobrero are among the nine hostages from the resort still in Abu Sayyaf custody.
They were last reported to be in a hospital occupied by rebels on Saturday.
US charge d'affaires Michael Malinowski said the US Federal Bureau of Investigation would want to speak with some of the nine local hostages who had escaped to gauge the condition of American captives.
Lugar said that President Gloria Arroyo, who launched an all-out military assault against the rebels and ruled out any negotiations for ransom, "knows our anxiety, of our Americans who are still at risk."
He said that the crisis had to be handled in "a pragmatic manner."
Lugar emphasised that governments should share information to combat hostage-taking and other dangerous, transnational crimes so that "we could turn this terrible tragedies into confidence building measures."
He cited the deadly 1994 nerve-gas attack by the Japanese Aum Supreme Truth cult on the Tokyo subway, saying although the attack was confined to the Japanese capital, the group had links in several other countries.
Lugar, who serves on the Senate's foreign relations and intelligence committees, was the second member of the US legislature to come to the Philippines for talks with President Arroyo since the hostage saga began.
US House of Representatives member Robert Underwood held talks with Arroyo last week.
US embassy officials made it clear that Lugar's trip was part of a regional visit and had been planned long before the hostage drama.
The US State Department last week called for the immediate release of all the captives, reiterated its policy of not paying ransom, and stressed that Manila "has the lead" in resolving the crisis.
The US and Philippine governments have been discussing how they can work together to resolve the kidnapping crisis, but local officials stressed they have only talked about exchanges of information, not military aid.
Last week, deputy Philippine military chief Colonel Joey Mendoza said US assistance with satellite tracking would help – MANILA (AFP)
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