MANILA -- A Taiwanese tourist who was abducted at a Malaysian resort has been found alive in Sulu after over a month in captivity. Chang An Wei, 58, also known as Evelyn Chang, was found by responding policemen and soldiers in Talipao town, Jolo on Friday afternoon. Reports from Task Force Sulu revealed that joint police and military operatives received information on the presence of a kidnap victim in the vicinity of Sitio Karija Anil, Barangay Liban at 3:55 p.m. Chang was apparently abandoned by her captors. Upon her recovery, she was immediately brought to a hospital for medical check-up. Authorities said Chang was in good condition. The military in Sulu, meanwhile, has yet to identify the group that took the Taiwanese. Media reports said Chang and her husband were holidaying on Pom Pom island in Sabah state when it was attacked by gunmen on November 15. Chang's husband was reported killed in the incident. Sabah is located near the Sulu island group. A Jordanian television reporter, Baker Atyani, walked free from his Abu Sayyaf captors earlier this month after being held captive for 18 months. Still being held captive in Sulu are the sisters Nadjoua Bansil, 39, and Linda, 36. They were abducted by suspected Abu Sayyaf men while filming in Jolo on June 22. The Abu Sayyaf is a small Islamist movement that has been blamed for a string of terrorist attacks and kidnappings of foreigners in the Philippines. It was founded with seed money from Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network to fight for an independent Islamic state, though it later turned into a criminal gang. US Special Forces have been rotating through Jolo and other parts of the southern Philippines for more than a decade to train local troops battling the group, which is on Washington's list of "foreign terrorist organisations". Philippine authorities say Abu Sayyaf gunmen are believed still to hold a number of foreign as well as Filipino hostages on Jolo, including two European birdwatchers and a Japanese treasure hunter. Dutchman Ewold Horn and Lorenzo Vinciguerra of Switzerland were abducted in the Tawi-Tawi island group near Jolo in February last year, while Amer Mamaito Katayama of Japan was abducted on the island of Pangutaran near Jolo in July 2010. -- With reports from Queenie Casimiro, ABS-CBN News Zamboanga; Agence France-Presse
