Golan Heights escape

A group of 40 United Nations peacekeepers from the Philippines made a nighttime escape after a siege of their encampment by about 100 gunmen, Filipino army officials said on Sunday.

"We may call it the greatest escape," General Gregorio Pio Catapang told reporters in Manila, commending the soldiers on their resolve under heavy fire. "Although they were surrounded and outnumbered, they held their ground for seven hours."

The Filipino soldiers walked nearly two hours through the dark to safety during a ceasefire which had been agreed with the militants.

The Philippines military, coordinating the soldiers' operations from a headquarters in the capital, Manila, said they had received support from the governments of Israel, the United States, Qatar and Syria in the troops' escape, without elaborating further. Philippine military official Colonel Roberto Ancan said separately that Syrian government forces had provided "indirect fire support" from a distance to take some pressure off the besieged Filipinos.

In total, more than 70 Filipino soldiers were surrounded by the rebels on Thursday and refused the militant groups' demands to hand over their weapons. An initial group of some 35 Filipino soldiers had been escorted to safety by UN forces Saturday.

Fijians remain missing

Though the Filipinos have made it to safety, a group of some 45 of their UN peacekeeper colleagues from Fiji are still being held by the militants, having been detained since Thursday.

The al-Qaeda linked Nusra Front has reportedly taken responsibility for the Fijian peacekeepers' abduction, saying it was in retaliation for the UN's "collusion" with the army of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The militants claim to have taken 45 peacekeepers; the UN earlier said 44 had been detained.

"The UN has completely ignored the daily shedding of Muslims' blood in Syria," the Nusra Front said, in a report which could not be independently confirmed by news agencies. The report also accused the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), to which the peacekeepers belong, of repeatedly allowing Assad's forces to attack "vulnerable Muslims" in the area.

Despite assurances by the Nusra Front that the captured soldiers were being treated well and were in good health, the Reuters news agency reports that authorities in Fiji have expressed concern that they do not know exactly where the soldiers are being held.

"We are continuing negotiations at all levels," Fijian Army Commander Brigadier General Mosese Tikoitoga told a news conference in Fiji on Sunday. "However, we are still very concerned that we cannot confirm at this stage their exact location, whether they are still in Syria or whether they have been moved to neighboring countries."

The Fijian and Filipino soldiers were in the Golan Heights as part of the UNDOF peacekeeping mission there, to monitor a 1970s ceasefire between Israel and Syria.

se/tj (dpa, AP, AFP, Reuters)