Posted on 11/26/2001 5:40:32 PM PST by HAL9000
Forces of renegade governor in southern Philippines threaten to kill hostages amid fighting with military
ZAMBOANGA, Philippines, Nov 26, 2001 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- Bomber aircraft, rocket-firing helicopters and riflemen pounded a government complex of the Muslim regional government Tuesday and rebels holed up there said they would kill hostages unless the shooting stops.
Rebels loyal to renegade Muslim region Gov. Nur Misuari were using at least two men as human shields and said they had many more hostages and would kill them unless the military halts its attack six kilometers (four miles) from the center of Zamboanga, the region's main city.
Local radio reported the rebels may have dozens of hostages in the 60-hectare (150-acre) Cabatangan complex which houses some government offices of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Military spokesman Brig. Gen. Edilberto Adan said one civilian was killed and seven were injured in the cross fire.
The rebels are loyal to Misuari who was charged with rebellion and arrested over the weekend after his forces attacked an army base on a southern island.
Elections were held Monday to replace Misuari and the army told his backers to leave Cabatangan, about six kilometers (four miles) from the Zamboanga city center.
At least 60 heavily armed rebels remained in the complex, the military said.
Midmorning Tuesday, the rebels sent out one hostage, local newspaper editor Jose Mari Bue, to tell the military the rebels "want a safe passage. They want to exit and escape."
Bue, business editor of the Zamboanga Times, was taken hostage along with his family from their home near Cabatangan, reported the Radio Mindanao Network.
Other civilians called local radio stations to say that they were trapped by fighting in the Cabatangan complex and couldn't leave unless the shooting stops.
Maj. Reno Tolentino, of the Zamboanga military detachment, said the fighting started when the rebels attacked an army outpost near the complex.
Florita Orquito, a 43-year-old hostage who escaped amid the fighting, also told reporters the rebels moved quietly into neighborhoods near the complex and took hostages before the fighting began.
National Security Adviser Roilo Golez said the military has now completely surrounded the rebels and hostages.
"This is a very simple operation as far as the military is concerned," he said.
Two men were tied together and forced to stand on a highway in a 200-meter-wide (600-foot-wide) no man's land between troops and rebels on one side of the complex. Four rebel gunmen in camouflage behind the two men taunted the soldiers, motioning for them to try to shoot.
Witnesses saw three airplanes swooping into steep dives and releasing 500-pound and 750-pound bombs into Cabatangan, shaking the ground around the several hectares (acres) of the complex.
Officials said about 5,000 people fled to evacuation centers.
Roadblocks were put up around the city of 750,000 people. The civilian airport was shut down and schools were told not to open.
Misuari was arrested Saturday in neighboring Malaysia as he tried to evade a manhunt by more than 6,000 soldiers on the southern Philippine island of Jolo.
His supporters attacked an army base last week to protest against the elections, breaking a 1996 peace deal with the Philippine government. More than 100 Misuari loyalists, seven civilians and four soldiers were killed in the fighting last week, the military said.
Copyright 2001 Associated Press, All rights reserved
Nice to know you have appointed yourself to speak for FRee Republic although -- considering I have been "around these boards" [FR and long-pre-FR] for more than 10 years and you are, relatively speaking, an anonymous newcomer -- and one, at that, who is given to the methods of disruptive libburrlls and to such tactics as the implied personal attack, rascism and violence embedded in your "contribuions" here -- you will forgive me, I am sure, for being just a bit surprised that your appointment wasn't brought to my attention before now?
Or was it a self-appointment?
Cordially
Brian
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