Freed Italy priest tells of ordeal

Pierantoni: Freed after spending six months in the hands of a kidnap gang

MANILA, Philippines -- An Italian priest rescued after nearly six months in captivity in the southern Philippines has attributed his release to the "miracle of prayer."

Guiseppe Pierantoni, 44, who was seized in October from his rectory in Zamboanga del Sur province on Mindanao island, said he had to eat snakes and lizards in order to survive during his ordeal.

"It was, I think, a miracle of prayer what happened to me," he told a news conference in Manila, "I am really very, very thankful and very grateful to God and also to the Filipino government.

"I believe that after six months of living in the forest trying to escape... the police and the army, it was a miracle to be freed and without any harm, without any particular suffering."

Pierantoni, who was pale and appeared to have lost weight, also said he felt tired and confused.

He was seized by the so-called "Pentagon" group that is believed to be made up of former members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) which is in peace talks with the government. The group is on Washington's list of terrorist organisations.

The gang has denied involvement in Pierantoni's abduction.

Kidnappers flee government forces

Government sources said Pierantoni was rescued near Tungawan, about 80 km (50 miles) northeast of Zamboanga City, by a special police operations group, around 2 a.m. on Monday (1800 GMT, Sunday).

"Before the special action force could engage the Pentagon members in a fire fight, Pentagon members scampered for safety, leaving in the process Father Pierantoni," Interior Secretary Joey Lina told local television station.

Officials said Pierantoni had been led to believe by his kidnappers that he was in nearby Basilan island with the Abu Sayyaf, a kidnap group the United States has linked to Osama bin Laden.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo called Pierantoni's release "a big step towards peace."

"We have rescued Father Pierantoni," she said in a radio address. "We are slowly reaping the fruits of our efforts to combat terrorism, poverty, crime, corruption and the respect for the rule of law."

Arroyo said she hoped that a U.S. missionary couple, Martin and Gracia Burnham from Kansas who were kidnapped last May by the Abu Sayyaf, could also be freed soon.

The Pentagon group has been holding the couple and a Philippine nurse for more than 10 months on Basilan, off Mindanao, where a joint military exercise between the Philippines and the United States is under way.

The gang has also been blamed in the past year for abducting an Italian, a Canadian, wealthy Filipinos and several Chinese engineers who were on a government irrigation project.

The Philippines has been plagued by a rash of kidnappings-for-ransom by Muslim extremist groups and criminal gangs, emboldened by the success of the Abu Sayyaf in mass abductions over the past two years.