Military continues assault on hostage holding RP rebels

Military continues assault on hostage holding RP rebels

ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (AP): Philippine troops continued on Sunday ground and air assaults on the mountain stronghold of rebels holding 27 hostages, officials said. At least three soldiers and an undetermined number of rebels were killed in the fighting, they said.

An Abu Sayyaf rebel spokesman said two hostages, including a child, were injured in the shelling of the rebel camp. Military officials said they could not confirm the report.

The rebels warned Saturday they will behead their five remaining male hostages if the military does not halt attempts to rescue the 27 hostages, including children and teachers, abducted from schools a month ago.

Ignoring the threat, military chief Gen. Angelo Reyes said the military would not stop its attack in the hinterlands of southern Basilan province until the hostages are rescued and the rebels eliminated. The troops were being guided by former Muslim guerrillas.

The decision to attack the Abu Sayyaf rebel camp was made by a provincial crisis management committee that has handled the hostage negotiations.

The committee's spokesman, Chris Puno, said the Abu Sayyaf's earlier beheading of two hostages left the committee "with no option but to resort to a military operation."

Two soldiers and one militiamen have been killed in the assault, launched by about 500 soldiers early Saturday, said Maj. Gen. Diomedio Villanueva, chief of the military's Southern Command.

An undetermined number of rebels have also been killed, he said.

Basilan Governor Wahab Akbar said several young Abu Sayyaf rebels fled when government troops began bombarding their camp on the slope of a mountain with mortar and artillery fire Sunday.

One of the rebels was later captured and nine others were killed in a clash with militiamen and policemen manning a blockade, Akbar said.

Rebel spokesman Abu Ahmad told local radio station DXRZ that there had been no casualties among the rebels and insisted they would rather die than surrender.

Villanueva said air force helicopters were firing rockets at outlying rebel camps to allow ground troops to penetrate the main camp where most of the hostages are believed to be held.

Navy ships have also been deployed to prevent the rebels from escaping and receiving reinforcements from comrades in nearby provinces.

"I feel it's about time we stop talking with these fanatics," Villanueva told The Associated Press. Otherwise, from the way the rebels have been acting, "they will just kill the hostages one by one," he said.

The rebels announced last Wednesday that they had beheaded two male teachers because the government had ignored the conditions they set for the release of the hostages, including the freeing of Arab terrorists held in jails in the United States.

The group has demanded the release of Ramzi Yousef, mastermind of the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York, and Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, accused of conspiring to blow up New York City landmarks.

The demands were rejected by the Philippine government and by the U.S. Embassy.

Government troops were fighting an estimated 230-250 rebels in the rescue attempt in Basilan, an island province about 880 kilometers south of Manila, Reyes said.

Ahmad warned that the rebels would begin beheading the remaining male hostages, including teachers and a priest, as soon as Sunday if the rescue attempt continues.

The rebels originally seized more than 50 people, including many children, from two schools in Basilan on March 20 for use as human shields after attacking an army outpost. Some of the hostages have since been freed.

In retaliation for the abduction, a group of vigilantes seized 11 relatives of Abu Sayyaf leader Khadaffy Janjalani. They are still holding nine relatives after freeing Janjalani's pregnant wife and a daughter.

The Abu Sayyaf is the smaller but more radical of two Muslim groups fighting for an independent Islamic state in the southern Philippines. It has been blamed for numerous attacks on Christians, including the abduction of foreign missionaries.

The U.S. State Department has included the Abu Sayyaf in a list of 28 foreign groups that threaten Americans at home or abroad.