ZAMBOANGA, Philippines — Nearly 100 Muslim guerrillas who have held
scores of people hostage for a week in Zamboanga City have been killed
or captured in an offensive to retake rebel-held coastal communities,
officials said Sunday.
Army troops and police special forces have regained rebel-held
grounds and are pressing an assault deeper into communities in the
coastal outskirts of Zamboanga city, where more than 100 Moro National
Liberation Front guerrillas are holding an unspecified number of
hostages, military spokesman Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala said.
“We’re gaining ground, we’re pushing forward,” he said.
Troops are calibrating their firepower to avoid harming civilians, Zagala said.
At least 51 rebels have been killed and 42 others captured, most
while trying to escape along the coast after discarding their camouflage
uniforms for ordinary clothes, Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas IIsaid,
adding that the gunmen would face criminal charges.
Six policemen and soldiers, along with four villagers, have been
killed in the standoff, which began Monday when troops foiled an attempt
by the rebels, who arrived by boat from outlying islands, to march and
hoist their flag at Zamboanga’s city hall. They barged into five coastal
villages and took more than 100 hostages as human shields.
Army troops and police, backed by helicopters and navy gunboats,
initially surrounded the rebels with their hostages while government
officials tried to convince the insurgents to free their captives and
surrender. But government forces decided to attack Friday after the
guerrillas started setting on fire clusters of houses and fired mortar
rounds that wounded several Red Cross aid workers, Zagala said.
While the government’s offensive is gaining momentum, Roxas said
it’s difficult to tell when troops will be able to end the standoff,
which has displaced more than 67,000 residents.
The crisis has virtually paralyzed the port city of nearly a
million people, after authorities closed its international airport and
suspended sea ferry services.
The Moro insurgents, led by rebel leader Nur Misuari, signed a
peace deal in 1996, but the guerrillas did not lay down their arms and
later accused the government of reneging on a promise to develop
long-neglected Muslim regions in the south of the predominantly Roman
Catholic nation.
The rebels have become increasingly restive in recent months as
they were overshadowed by a rival rebel group, which engaged President
Benigno Aquino III’s government in peace talks brokered by Malaysia. The
talks have steadily progressed toward a new and potentially larger
autonomy deal for minority Muslims in the south.
Misuari, whose group launched a similar attack in Zamboanga city in 2001, has not been seen in public since the standoff began.
SOURCE: inquirer.net
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