RP troops kill two as rebels threaten to execute hostages
RP troops kill two as rebels threaten to execute hostages
ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (Reuters): Philippine troops shot dead two Muslim rebels on Sunday while a government emissary pursued talks with the guerrillas to stop the threatened execution of three U.S. hostages.
The extremist Abu Sayyaf group has set a Monday deadline for executing the Americans -- held on southern Basilan island with 10 Filipinos -- if Manila does not yield to their demand for a Malaysian to negotiate with them.
"There are talks right now," presidential adviser on national security Roilo Golez said in a television interview when asked what steps the government was taking to prevent the executions.
Asked if he believed the guerrillas would carry out their threat, Golez said: "That is going to be their responsibility."
The two rebels killed were among nine guerrillas arrested by soldiers on Basilan but were gunned down when they tried to fight back, area army commander Col. Hermogenes Esperon said. Two other guerrillas were wounded.
"They were being brought to the army outpost when they fought back and tried to grab the firearms of our troops. Our soldiers had no choice but to shoot them," Esperon told reporters.
An Abu Sayyaf spokesman set the 72-hour deadline in a call to local RMN radio at about 4:30 p.m. (3:30 p.m. in Jakarta) on Thursday.
Local officials had said the ultimatum would expire on Sunday but Golez told Reuters the deadline was Monday.
He said a government intermediary had talked with the Abu Sayyaf and "they (the rebels) clarified it would be tomorrow".
"We have an open line of communications with them but when it comes to conditions, we cannot accept any conditions."
He said a rebel demand for a military pullback from a mountainous area in Basilan, 900 km (560 miles) south of Manila, where the hostages are believed held was "out of the question".
The presidential palace said Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, in a telephone talk with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Saturday, offered to help Manila resolve its second hostage crisis in a year.
"Mr Qaddafi told President Macapagal Arroyo that the Libyan government is available for whatever help the Philippines would need, and ask for, in settling the kidnapping crisis," the palace said. "The president expressed her appreciation for Libya's offer of help. No specific form of assistance was discussed."
A Libyan diplomat played a key role in negotiations with the Abu Sayyaf last year for the release of 21 mostly foreign hostages seized from a nearby Malaysian tourist resort and brought to Jolo island in the southern Philippines.
Except for a Filipino resort worker still in rebel hands, all of those hostages have been freed, mostly after payment of large ransoms. Some were rescued or escaped.
Arroyo has rejected the rebel demand for a foreign negotiator and said army operations against the kidnappers will continue.
Arroyo reiterated her policy of not paying any ransom.
"We have learned a lesson from the past. Ransom was paid to them and what happened? They continued kidnapping and to modernize their armaments," Arroyo added, referring to last year's hostage drama.
The Abu Sayyaf is one of two groups fighting for a Muslim homeland in the south of the mainly Catholic country but appears to pursue kidnap for ransom as its main line of business.
The Abu Sayyaf abducted 20 people from the Dos Palmas beach resort on May 27 and brought them across 500 km (300 miles) of sea to Basilan. Nine of the hostages have escaped or been released. Two were found dead, apparently executed by the rebels.
The remaining nine Dos Palmas hostages are still in guerrilla hands along with four other Filipinos abducted last weekend.