Koreans, RP workers trapped in fighting

Koreans, RP workers trapped in fighting

COTABATO, Philippines (Reuter): Philippine officials yesterday sought talks with Moslem guerrillas to try to free five South Korean engineers and more than 30 Filipinos trapped in fighting between the army and the rebels.

Six rebels were believed killed and three soldiers wounded in a clash on Saturday around an irrigation project being built by the Korean Shinsung construction company in Carmen, North Cotabato province, 910 kilometers south of Manila.

"The Koreans and the Filipinos are trapped at the project site. Officials are on the way there to ask the rebels to withdraw," an army spokesman said.

Both the military and local government officials denied Manila newspaper reports that the rebels had taken the Koreans and the Filipino workers hostage.