American Boy Flees Captivity by Philippine Terror Group

A boy abducted by an al-Qaida-allied terror group has managed to escape, running barefeet through a Philippine jungle for two days.

Kevin Lunsmann, 14, had been missing for five months while the terror group made ransom demands to his family, according to the Mirror.

He managed to escape by telling four armed guards that he was going to wash in a stream, before running away.

He was found by villagers after he followed a river on the southern Philippine island of Basilan.

Kevin was taken to Manila, from where he telephoned his Filipino-American mother Gerfa, who was in the U.S. She, along with Kevin's cousin Romnick Jakaria, had been abducted with Kevin during a holiday in the country in July.

Gerfa was freed by the abductors in October, while Romnick managed to give them the slip last month.

In Virginia, Kevin's family received ransom-demands to guarantee their safe arrival.

The al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf, which has been declared a terrorist organisation by the U.S., is usually blamed for ransom kidnapping in the region.