ZAMBOANGA CITY, 29 October 2003 — One of six people kidnapped by gunmen from a tourist resort in Sabah, Malaysia, was rescued in the southern Philippines but five other hostages were executed by their captors following a clash, police said yesterday.

Police Chief Superintendent Acmad Omar said his forces rescued on Monday night Indonesian hostage Norberto Arcosel in Languyan town in the remote southern province of Tawi-Tawi, just several hours by boat from Sabah. “We got him and is now in our custody, but the remaining hostages were executed by the Abu Sayyaf kidnappers. They used the five hostages as shield against pursuing security forces and then killed them in their escape,” Omar told reporters.

Omar is the police director for the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), which covers the province of Tawi-Tawi.

He said security forces led by the town’s police chief Carlito Lantada clashed with the gunmen at 6.25 p.m. after villagers tipped them off about the presence of the kidnappers and their hostages.

“The kidnappers were caught by surprise and the raid triggered a running gunbattle,” Omar said.

Arcosel told Tawi Tawi radio station DXDG that his companions were executed after their relatives failed to pay a 6 million peso ($108,000) ransom.

Speaking through an interpreter, he said they were told by their captors to undress and run near the seashore of Maraning village on Monday night. The abductors then fired at them as they ran, killing five, he added.

The man said he survived by running away as fast as he could. He said the shooting took place on their second night in the village, where they were brought after being transferred from one motorboat to another.

The military’s Southern Command quoted the former hostage as saying he escaped from his abductors Sunday while they massacred his companions — four men and a woman — in the village of Buan. He was able to reach the nearby Maraning, where residents brought him to the local police, who turned him over to provincial police Monday.

Among those killed by the estimated 20 to 30 abductors were the man’s parents, Arsad and Armay, two Indonesian men and a Filipino, military vice chief of staff Lt. Gen. Rodolfo Garcia told reporters.

Ten gunmen using a speedboat stormed Malaysia’s Borneo Paradise Resort on Oct. 5 on Borneo island.