Bangkok, Thailand ? U.S. missionary Martin Burnham was killed Friday in a shootout between Philippine soldiers and Muslim rebels who kidnapped the Kansas man and his wife more than a year ago.

Burnham’s wife, Gracia, was shot in the leg before she was rescued by the U.S.-trained soldiers, Philippine authorities said. Burnham was reportedly in stable condition after surgery in a military hospital in the southern Philippine city of Zamboanga.

A Philippine Marine walks toward the casket of Filipina nurse Ediborah Yap at her wake early today in Zamboanga, southern Philippines. Yap and American hostage Martin Burnham of Rose Hill were killed Friday in a military operation against the Muslim Abu Sayyaf kidnappers. Burnham's wife, Gracia, was wounded during the gunbattle, but survived and was rescued.

“She’s talking,” said Maj. Gen. Ernesto Carolina, commander of the Philippine armed forces Southern Command in Zamboanga. “She’s out of danger.”

Ediborah Yap, a Philippine nurse held hostage with the Burnhams, also died in the gunbattle between the Philippine Army’s crack Light Reaction Company and a faction of the extremist Abu Sayyaf Group, military officials said.

Four Abu Sayyaf gunmen died and seven soldiers were wounded in the fighting.

Despite the presence of 160 U.S. Special Forces and thousands of Philippine troops on Basilan island, and round-the-clock surveillance by U.S. aircraft and Philippine naval forces, the Abu Sayyaf rebels holding the Burnhams had somehow managed to escape Basilan and make their way to the neighboring island of Mindanao.

The rescue operation was carried out in heavy rains near the Mindanao town of Siraway. U.S. soldiers didn’t take part in the rescue mission, but U.S. helicopters helped evacuate the wounded, Philippine military officials said.

Presidential notification

Burnham died of a gunshot wound, but it wasn’t immediately clear whether the shot was fired by his captors or the soldiers, the officials said.

Burnham’s parents and other family members in Kansas learned of Martin’s death in an early Friday phone call from Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Paul, left, and Oreta Burnham, along with their son Doug, right, make a statement to reporters outside their Rose Hill home. The Burnhams' son Martin was killed during a rescue attempt Friday in the Philippines.

“The Lord will give us the strength to get through this,” said Paul Burnham, Martin’s father, speaking to reporters at the family home in Rose Hill, Kan.

In Manila, Arroyo described the Burnhams’ year-long ordeal as “a long and painful trial for them, for our government, for our country.”

“Our soldiers tried their best to hold their fire for safety,” she said. “We shall not stop until the Abu Sayyaf is finished.”

In Washington, President Bush said Arroyo assured him that “justice would be done” to the kidnappers.

“She assured me that the Philippine government would hold the terrorist group accountable for how they treated these Americans,” Bush said.

Bush called the Burnhams’ family Friday to express his condolences.

On a mission

Martin, 42, and Gracia, 43, moved to the Philippines in 1986 as Christian missionaries for the Florida-based New Tribes Mission. They were kidnapped on May 27, 2001, while celebrating their 18th wedding anniversary at a beach resort in the southern Philippines.

They were among 20 hostages seized from the Dos Palmas resort off Palawan island. The only other American, Guillermo Sobero, of Corona, Calif., was beheaded by the rebels on June 12, according to former hostages and U.S. and Philippine officials.

For much of their year in captivity, the Burnhams were constantly on the move as their captors tried to elude Philippine soldiers. They lived in crude jungle camps and slept in hammocks, former hostages said.

Burnham was chained to a tree, but his wife was allowed to move around their camps freely, according to former hostages and former Abu Sayyaf rebels.

The Burnhams suffered from the poor diet and harsh jungle conditions. Diarrhea and skin diseases were chronic. There were unconfirmed reports in recent months that Martin Burnham was suffering from malaria and Gracia Burnham was seriously ill with a urinary tract infection.

At the end of March, there was widespread speculation that the Burnhams were about to be released. Burnham’s father, Paul, told a Zamboanga radio station that the family paid $300,000 for the release of the Burnhams and Yap, but the Abu Sayyaf reneged.

An Abu Sayyaf leader said the ransom was paid to a rival faction that didn’t have custody of the Burnhams, and he demanded another $200,000 for the couple’s release.

The Burnhams had long lived in fear of being killed in a rescue attempt or chance encounter between soldiers and their captors, former Abu Sayyaf hostages said.

Former hostage Sheila Tabunyag, a nurse seized from the Basilan island hospital last year and released Nov. 14, said Burnham asked her in their final conversation to tell the military to stop its rescue attempts.

Burnham also asked her to tell the Burnhams’ children Jeff, 15; Mindy, 12; and Zach, 11 to “pray for them,” said Tabunyag.

“We embraced each other and I said, ‘Tito (Uncle) Martin and Tita (Aunt) Gracia, goodbye, I will go home now.’ And Tito Martin said, ‘Good luck.'”