Moslem guerrillas blamed for bombing in Zamboanga
Moslem guerrillas blamed for bombing in Zamboanga
ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (Agencies): A Philippine military
commander yesterday blamed Moslem guerrillas for the bombing of a
southern commercial center and ordered his men to capture the
rebel leader dead or alive.
Maj. Gen. Orlando Soriano said the car bomb that wounded 33
people in Zamboanga on Sunday evening was intended to divert the
military from its four-day-old assault on the hideout of the
Moslem fundamentalist Abu Sayyaf group in nearby Jolo island.
"This is pre-planned by the Abu Sayyaf to lessen the pressure
on them...but we will continue our drive, we are going to
continue the pressure," the regional commander said.
"My instruction to soldiers is to get him dead or alive,"
Soriano said of rebel leader Abdurajak Janjalani, who assumed the
name Abu Sayyaf (Sword of God) after taking command of young
Moslem radicals.
Police increased patrols around churches, schools, petrol
stations and other facilities in Zamboanga, a largely Christian
city of 430,000 people, to prevent further attacks.
Military reports said 30 guerrillas and eight soldiers had
died in fighting since 1,400 troops, backed by gunboats and
warplanes, launched their offensive on the rebels' mountain
stronghold in Jolo on Friday.
A Marine spokesman said advancing soldiers were only 500
meters from Abu Sayyaf's main camp and could take it during the
day.
Officials said the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), the
mainstream rebel force campaigning for Moslem autonomy in the
south, had promised not to intervene in the fighting.
Its main stronghold is also in Jolo, a mountainous island
lying off the southwestern tip of Mindanao about 950 kilometers
south of Manila.
The military has blamed the Abu Sayyaf group for a spate of
kidnapping and bombing incidents in the southern islands in the
past year.
More than 50,000 people died in Mindanao during the 1970s when
Moslem guerrillas fought to secede from the overwhelmingly
Christian country.
The MNLF is now negotiating with the government for more
autonomy, rather than secession.
Meanwhile, UPI reported that the military captured yesterday
the main rebel camp of Muslim extremists guerrillas in the
southern Philippines after a four-day assault that claimed at
least 36 lives.
Following an aerial bombardment on the camp, three battalions
of police and military troopers overran the stronghold of the Abu
Sayyaf, a heavily armed rebel force that claimed responsibility
for a rash of bombings and kidnappings in the past year.
"The Abu Sayyaf is a national menace," said Col. Ponciano
Millena, head of the joint police-military task force that
carried out the offensive. "We will not stop until we get rid of
them."