RP sends in troops to catch guerrillas holding hostages

RP sends in troops to catch guerrillas holding hostages

ISABELA, Philippines (Agencies): The Philippine military
unleashed crack troops to hunt down guerrillas holding three
Americans and several Filipinos hostage, as officials denied on
Friday reports the rebels had begun freeing hostages for cash.

Soldiers and marines continued to pour into southern Basilan
island, where three days ago the Abu Sayyaf guerrillas said they
had beheaded American hostage Guillermo Sobero.

But there was no evidence Sobero had been killed, and nothing
to back the reported release of two child hostages after a 10-
million-peso (US$196,000) ransom was paid, officials said.

"The reported release has not happened," said military
spokesman Brig. Gen. Edilberto Adan. "There is no release as of
this morning, so the two hostages have not been released."

Since early Thursday, rumors of an impending release have been
swirling around southern Basilan island, where the hostages are
being held.

Basilan Governor Wahab Akbar told DZMM radio the Abu Sayyaf
ranks were swelling from an initial estimate of 460, as a rebel
recruitment drive pulled in jobless youths with offers of guns
and a share of ransom money.

In a continuing military build-up on Basilan since the Abu
Sayyaf claimed Sobero had been killed, officials said on Thursday
there were 5,000 troops on the island, but Friday they refused to
discuss numbers calling it an "operational matter."

But spokesman Lt. Col. Danilo Servando there were "sufficient
forces" in the area and revealed the armed civilian militia now
being prepared would total 2,442.

Government television, in an unsourced report, put the troop
strength at 8,000.

New arrivals included the crack marines who rescued American
Jeffrey Schilling from the Abu Sayyaf two months ago.

Schilling, who had been held for seven months, was rescued
unscathed after a 30-minute gunbattle on nearby Jolo island.

"Maybe that's why they are sending us here," a marine, who
asked not to be identified, told AFP as he disembarked from a
navy patrol ship on Friday.

He described the unit as a "striking force" who do not have
barracks and will remain out in the jungle.

While the government remained frustrated on Basilan, on nearby
Jolo there was cautious optimism as notorious Abu Sayyaf leader
Ghalib Andang, alias Commander Robot, was said to be ready to
surrender.

Andang, who seized dozens of hostages last year, claimed his
Abu Sayyaf faction had nothing to do with the latest abductions,
according to presidential emissary Luis Singson.

The Abu Sayyaf on Basilan abducted Sobero and two other
Americans, Martin and Gracia Burnham, from a resort on May 27.
They are also holding at least two dozen Filipinos, captured in a
series of raids.

Two child hostages Lalaine Chua, 12, and Kimberly Jao, 15,
were said in one report to have been released after a ransom was
paid, while another newspaper said the deal had fallen through.

The Malaya newspaper said Benito Chua sold his business to pay
the ransom for his daughter Lalaine, but could not raise the 10
million pesos demanded.

The family of Kimberly Jao was said to have paid six million
pesos, but the Abu Sayyaf used the military operations as a
pretext for delaying her release.

Despite the strong military presence on Basilan, where
residents live in fear of the guerrillas, the tense island
capital of Isabela was rife with speculation Friday the Abu
Sayyaf were preparing to enter the town.

Frightened parents were seen pulling their children out of
classes at one elementary school, refusing to accept teacher
assurances that rumors of Abu Sayyaf gunmen in the area were
started by students as a joke.

As the news media flocked to the area, younger children
preferred to pose for television cameras than listen to either
parents or teachers.

Meanwhile, two people were killed and 31 wounded on Friday
when an unidentified attacker tossed a grenade outside a
supermarket in Iligan city in the southern Philippines, police
said.

No group has claimed responsibility for the blast which
occurred while thousands of troops were pursuing Muslim
separatist rebels holding American and Filipino hostages for
three weeks on Basilan island, also in the country's troubled
south.

"I saw the grenade rolling on the pavement and I was stunned.
Before I could run, there was an explosion," supermarket worker
Rico Juatimar told reporters in a city hospital where he was
being treated for shrapnel wounds.

A number of grenade explosions have hit Iligan in recent
years, causing several deaths. Police blamed "terrorists" -- a
term police generally use to refer to rebel groups -- for most of
the attacks.