Hostages could be freed very soon, says RP official

Hostages could be freed very soon, says RP official

JOLO, Philippines (AP): Philippine troops attacked an area on
a remote island where Muslim rebels are believed to be holding an
American hostage and hope to rescue him very soon, a government
spokesman said on Thursday.

Presidential Press Secretary Ricardo Puno said the military
were able to identify the area on Jolo island where the Abu
Sayyaf rebels are holding Jeffrey Schilling, of Oakland,
California, and began moving in Thursday afternoon.

"There is a clear identification of the location," he said.
"There are hopeful and promising signs that they may be able to
get something accomplished in the very, very near future."

A separate rebel faction led by Ghalib "Robot" Andang is
believed to be holding 16 other hostages, although a Cabinet
official admitted on Thursday that the military has lost track of
three Malaysian hostages.

Two French journalists escaped from the rebels on Tuesday
night, leaving Schilling, the three Malaysians and 13 Filipinos
still in captivity.

Puno said the military is pursuing Andang's group in another
area of Jolo and that action there also "seems to be real and
very imminent."

Schilling, 24, who converted to Islam while studying at the
University of California at Berkeley, visited an Abu Sayyaf camp
on Aug. 28 with his Filipino wife, a second cousin of guerrilla
spokesman Abu Sabaya.

He was seized by rebel leaders after they reportedly became
suspicious of him during an argument over religion and politics.
His wife was not abducted.

Earlier Thursday, a radio station broadcast an interview with
Schilling that was the first confirmation he was still alive
since thousands of troops launched a rescue assault on Saturday.
"I am alive," Schilling told the Radio Mindanao Network. "I am
fine."

Schilling appealed to the government to halt the rescue effort
so negotiations for his release could resume.

In Oakland, Schilling's mother, Carol, said she was relieved
her son was alive and well. "I am very worried about his safety
right now," she said. "I hope that he is released soon."

President Joseph Estrada said on Wednesday he would halt the
attack if all the hostages are freed.

Estrada portrayed the escape of the two French journalists as
vindication of his decision to use force against the rebels.

But the two journalists - Jean-Jacques Le Garrec and Roland
Madura of France-2 television - criticized the government's
handling of the hostage crisis after returning to France on
Thursday.

"It's impossible to imagine a military operation that could
have gotten us out of there," Le Garrec said. He called the
military assault "a criminal operation" that was endangering the
island's innocent civilians and legitimizing the rebel group.

The two men were seized July 9 while visiting a rebel camp to
interview other hostages.

The military announced on Thursday that 18 rebels were
confirmed dead and 42 other deaths had been reported but were not
confirmed. Six government troops were injured in the six days of
fighting, it said.

Military officials initially estimated that the assault would
be finished in six days.

Four civilians who were earlier reported dead were actually
only injured, military spokesman Gen. Generoso Senga said.

However, wounded civilians interviewed at Jolo's hospital said
they had witnessed the deaths of at least three other villagers
shot by the military.

A doctor, Ramla Jailani, said she was asking the military to
be allowed to go to restricted remote areas because of
unconfirmed reports of many casualties there.

Senga said more than 12,000 civilians have fled their homes to
escape the fighting.

The separatist Abu Sayyaf have kidnapped scores of people
since March. Most have been released, with Libya and Malaysia
reportedly paying more than US$15 million for 19 foreigners.
Estrada's decision to attack the rebels has been widely supported
by Filipinos.