Manila - The protracted Philippines hostage crisis took a bizarre turn yesterday when the government said a young American apparently held by Muslim rebels on a remote southern island had fallen for his captors.
The son of the Libyan leader, Col Muammar Gadafy, went further, accusing a Muslim convert, Mr Jeffrey Schilling (24), of being an arms-dealer doing business with the kidnap-for-ransom Abu Sayyaf gang which has threatened to behead him.
The accusations flew a day after Manila said it was closing in on gang members holding Mr Schilling.
