Fresh fighting erupts in Jolo, over 100 killed

Fresh fighting erupts in Jolo, over 100 killed

Reuters, Jolo, Philippines

Fresh fighting broke out on Jolo island in the southern Philippines on Wednesday as the death toll in an uprising by guerrillas loyal to a rebellious Muslim governor rose to over 100, the military said.

Military officials said they had used helicopter gunships and World War II vintage bomber planes in strikes on guerrilla positions and had sought the help of Malaysia to prevent Governor Nur Misuari from escaping there by sea.

The navy threatened to sink any boat he tried to use.

"As per body count and reports from the field, the enemy suffered fatalities not lower than 100, most of them inflicted by our air strikes," southern military commander Lt. Gen. Roy Cimatu told reporters.

"We know where their hideouts are and air strikes are continuing on these hideouts," Cimatu said.

Four soldiers and seven civilians have been killed while some 6,000 villagers have fled their homes.

About 7,000 soldiers hunted Misuari's fighters, who attacked a major army base and four other targets on Jolo on Monday as President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo visited the United States.

Charges of rebellion -- a crime punishable by a maximum 40 years in jail -- are to be filed on Thursday against Misuari and his followers, officials said.

"The government will not allow any renegade government official to flout the law with impunity," Undersecretary of Justice Jose Calida said.

As chairman of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), Misuari signed a peace agreement with the government in 1996 after leading a revolt for an Islamic state in the south of the mainly Roman Catholic country for 24 years.

The military said the MNLF attacks were intended to prevent regional elections on Monday to choose a successor to Misuari as governor of the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Misuari is not contesting the election which he has denounced as a violation of the peace accord.

"Fighting is continuing in three areas," Cimatu told the first group of journalists to visit the embattled island since Monday's attacks by between 500 to 800 MNLF gunmen.

He said the skirmishes were taking place in Panamao, Patikul and Indanan, all mountainous areas on the largely Muslim island where Misuari has traditionally enjoyed local support.

Military officials said they believed Misuari remained holed up in a village on Jolo but they were checking reports he might have slipped out of the country and gone to Sabah in Malaysia, a state where hundreds of thousands of Filipino Muslims live.

A separate report from villagers said Misuari had been wounded in the air strikes but this was unconfirmed, Cimatu said.

"We are coordinating with Malaysian authorities in case Misuari tries to seek refuge in Malaysia," armed forces chief General Diomedio Villanueva told reporters.

A spokesman said the Philippine Navy had stepped up patrols to stop Misuari fleeing. "His boat will be sunk," he said.

Manila set up the ARMM, a semi-autonomous area comprising four impoverished Muslim provinces, and installed Misuari as governor after the 1996 peace deal.

The Arroyo administration is backing someone else for the election, accusing Misuari of mismanaging ARMM. Misuari says the reason the region has remained poor is because Manila has failed to release funds it had promised to develop the area.

U.S. President George W. Bush said in Washington on Tuesday after talks with Arroyo that the United States would boost military and economic aid to the Philippines for its fight against Muslim separatists, calling it an extension of the U.S.- led war against terrorism.

In a joint statement, Bush said the United States would provide nearly US$100 million in security assistance to help the Philippines combat the Abu Sayyaf, another Muslim guerrilla group which operates in the southern Philippines.

The local military has accused Misuari of entering into an alliance with the Abu Sayyaf, which has been holding a U.S. missionary couple hostage for nearly six months on an island near Jolo. Washington has linked the Abu Sayyaf to Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda network.