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Filipino Gunmen Take 15 Hostages, Send 2 for Food

MANILA, Philippines -- Armed tribesmen who kidnapped 15 people, mostly teachers, in the southern Philippines sent two of the captives Sunday to get food and water and threatened to harm the remaining hostages if they did not return, police said. On Friday, five Manobo tribesmen abducted the 15 people, who were walking...

Death Toll Hits 57 in Iraqi Hostage Siege

BAGHDAD -- The death toll for a grisly hostage situation at a government building in northern Iraq continued to rise Wednesday as grieving families buried the victims and Iraqi officials questioned how it could have happened. Gunmen wearing explosives belts under military uniforms charged into the provincial council...

Gunmen Kill Dozens in Grisly Iraq Hostage Siege

BAGHDAD -- Wearing military uniforms over explosives belts, gunmen held a local Iraqi government center hostage Tuesday in a grisly siege that ended with the deaths of at least 56 people, including three councilmen who were executed with gunshots to the head. The five-hour standoff in Tikrit, former dictator Saddam...

Georgia Police Probe Circumstances of Hostage Case

ATHENS, Ga. - Police said Saturday they are trying to determine how long a man charged in a police officer's slaying had been staying at an Athens apartment where he allegedly took nine hostages, and then agreed to surrender on the condition it was broadcast on live TV news. Jamie Hood, 33, was being held Saturday without...

Pirate Kidnappings Hit Record High in 2010

Pirates took a record 1,181 hostages in 2010 as ship hijackings increased off the coast of Somalia, a maritime watchdog organization reported today. Attackers seized 53 ships last year -- all but four off Somalia -- according to the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Across...

Background on hostages

A hostage is a person or entity which is held by a captor. The original definition meant that this was handed over by one of two belligerent parties to the other or seized as security for the carrying out of an agreement, or as a preventive measure against certain acts of war.

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