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.