SAMAL ISLAND: Gunmen holding three foreigners and one Filipina hostage slipped past a naval blockade and escaped to remote mountains, leaving few clues to their identities, police said on Wednesday.

Elite Army troops were trying to track the bandits while Air Force helicopters were readied for a possible rescue as the gunmen trekked into Davao Oriental, a hotbed of Maoist and Islamic rebels, said Senior Supt. Aaron Aquino, the region’s deputy police commander.

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