Over 25 dead, many hostages in Philippine fighting

Over 25 dead, many hostages in Philippine fighting

Erik de Castro, Zamboanga, Philippines, Reuters

Moro gunmen fought pitched battles with Philippine troops on the outskirts of a major southern city on Tuesday and took scores of civilians hostage after at least 28 people were killed, officials said.

Twenty-five gunmen, two civilians and one soldier died in the fighting which started at 3 a.m. (2 a.m. in Jakarta) in the mainly Christian port city of 750,000 people, they said.

The Muslim guerrillas took civilians captive after they were pounded by helicopter gunships and bomber planes in pre-dawn raids.

At dusk, troops were attacking guerrilla positions atop a hill in one part of the city's suburbs but were locked in a tense stand-off in another because of the 70 or so hostages being used as human shields.

Residents in their night-clothes, barefoot and muddy from slips and falls in the dark, fled in terror when the fighting started. Many were seized and paraded down a mud track by rifle- toting guerrillas shouting Allahu Akbar (God is Greatest).

Crowds of people, reporters and television cameramen followed the procession of gunmen and hostages as they walked through the outskirts of the city, near the Zamboanga headquarters of former rebel chief Nur Misuari.

The hostages wept and pleaded with troops not to open fire as the guerrillas prodded them forward with rifle butts toward another district where they joined a larger group of rebels.

Many in the crowd followed, hurling expletives at the gunmen, but some joined the rebels in shouting Allahu Akbar.

The drama, played out on national television, was the latest security embarrassment for the government of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, for whom the Muslim secessionist problem in the south has become a major headache.

The fighting began when gunmen loyal to Misuari, who launched a failed rebellion last week, tried to break out of a cluster of buildings where they had been gathered for several days.

Troops, under orders not to let them leave, opened fire and then called in reinforcements and air support.

But by dawn, many of the guerrillas had broken out of the complex of buildings to take hostages from nearby residential areas and force the military to hold fire, officials said.

Misuari is a former Muslim rebel chief who took up arms against the government again last week on the nearby Jolo island. On Nov. 19, hundreds of his followers attacked a military post there and around 160 people were killed in the fighting.

Misuari was arrested in neighboring Malaysia at the weekend and authorities in Kuala Lumpur said on Tuesday he would be speedily deported to face trial in the Philippines.

All of last week, Misuari's followers in Zamboanga were quiet but made no attempt to hide their heavy weaponry. Military officials said they were given an ultimatum to surrender on Monday, which most ignored.

Authorities closed down Zamboanga airport and canceled all flights from the city as the fighting intensified. In Manila, security at government buildings, the suburban railway and oil depots was strengthened.

Misuari's followers started last week's fighting on Jolo in an attempt to disrupt polls to decide his replacement as governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). The elections were held on Monday. Misuari had denounced the elections as violating the 1996 accord under which he had given up a Muslim rebellion in exchange for limited autonomy.

The voting across the five provinces and one city comprising the ARMM was mostly peaceful. Results are likely to be known by the end of the week.