Filipino UN peacekeepers reach Jordan

Twenty-one Filipino UN peacekeepers seized by rebels in Syria arrived Saturday in Jordan, government spokesman Samih Maaytah told AFP, and the Philippines ambassador said she was heading to meet them. "They arrived in Jordan; they are on Jordanian land now," Maaytah said. Ambassador Olivia V. Palala also confirmed that the peacekeepers had arrived in Jordan from neighbouring Syria. "They are apparently inside Jordanian territory now. I am heading to the borders to meet them," she told AFP. Earlier, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights earlier said the soldiers, who were abducted on Wednesday by rebels in the Golan Heights, had been released and were on their way to the border with Jordan and freedom.