American missionary Gracia Burnham on Thursday testified against her former captors from the Abu Sayyaf kidnap-for-ransom group at a special court in Taguig, MetroManila.

Burnham recalled her harrowing ordeal under the Abu Sayyaf while her captors looked on. "She was calm. She was very spontaneous," Metro Manila police spokesman Chief Inspector Bartolome Bustamante told reporters.

As she spoke on the witness stand, eight Abu Sayyaf members stood at the back of the court room, he said.

Burnham arrived at the court Thursday morning under heavy security, escorted by Federal Bureau of Investigation and NationalBureau of Investigation agents, aside from police and military personnel.

Burnham was expected to identify the 12 detained suspected bandits who were allegedly responsible for the killing of her husband, Martin Burnham, during a military rescue operation that she survived in June 2002.

Among the captured suspected Abu Sayyaf member was Alhamser Manatad Limbong alias Commander Kosovo.

The Burnhams, held captive for over a year, was abducted in May2001 in Palawan also in the south together with several Filipinos and another American, Guillermo Sobero, who was beheaded by the kidnappers.

As many as 93 members of the Abu Sayyaf have been charged in connection with the abduction.

The Abu Sayyaf, notorious for its kidnap-for-ransom and bombingactivities, allegedly has links with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network. Washington and Manila labeled it as a terrorist group after the terror attacks in the United States on Sept. 11, 2001.

Source: Xinhua