Six kidnappers surrender in RP, military reports

Six kidnappers surrender in RP, military reports

JOLO, Philippines (AFP): Six members of a Muslim extremist
group holding five hostages in the southern Philippines have
surrendered amid a relentless army assault, the military said on
Monday.

Three Abu Sayyaf members turned in their rifles in Luuk on the
southern island of Jolo on Saturday and notified authorities that
more of their group wanted to surrender, Brig. Gen. Generoso
Senga told DZMM radio.

Three other guerrillas followed suit that same night with more
expressing a desire to do the same.

"Some of these (who want to surrender) are prominent
personalities, but we would not like to discuss this information"
at this time, Senga said.

The government three weeks ago launched a massive military
assault to rescue 19 hostages still held by the Abu Sayyaf in
Jolo from a five-month kidnapping spree.

Twelve Filipino Christian preachers were rescued last week
while two French journalists managed to escape three days into
the assault.

Five hostages -- American Jeffrey Schilling, Filipino Roland
Ullah, and Malaysians Kan Wei Chong, Joseph Ongkinoh and Mohamed
Noor Sulaiman -- remain in rebel hands.

A military source in Jolo identified one of those who
surrendered as Commander Abdul Baki, a trusted ally of Abu Sayyaf
senior leader Galib Andang, popularly known as Commander Robot.

Baki and his group were reportedly watching over 12 Filipino
Christian preachers when troops swooped on their lair and rescued
the captives last week, the source said.

Among those who reportedly want to surrender is Abu Sayyaf
leader Abu Sabaya, whose faction holds Schilling, reports said.

Senga said "our troops are a bit tired," 24 days into an
operation to destroy the self-proclaimed Muslim independence
fighters and rescue the remaining hostages.

But he said "these positive developments resulting from their
actions are giving them encouragement."

The military says at least 129 gunmen of the 1,200-member Abu
Sayyaf have been killed, while admitting to having lost eight
men, including three civilian spies.

Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado said Manila was open to
talks with the rebels to free the captives but stressed there
would be no let up in military operations.

Malaysian envoy to Manila Mohammad Arshad Hussein meanwhile
said Kuala Lumpur had received word their nationals had been
spotted and they were expecting positive developments in the next
few days.

But a statement by the Malaysian embassy released later said
Kuala Lumpur "is increasingly concerned for the safety of the
three Malaysians" as it expressed hope the operations "would be
over as quickly as possible."

The three Malaysians were snatched Sept. 10 by Abu Sayyaf
gunmen from the Malaysian resort of Pandanan, nearly five months
after the same group snatched 21 Asian and Western hostages from
the nearby resort of Sipadan.

All but one of the Sipadan hostages, Ullah, have been freed
after huge ransom payments.

Officials said about 82,000 people have been displaced during
the military operation -- more than a fifth of the population of
the 897 square-kilometer Jolo island.

The spokesman for the 5,000-member Jolo military task force,
Major Alberto Gepilano, told AFP that some soldiers had told
their superiors they were "very tired" and wanted to go on
vacation.

However, Philippine security forces have been told to brace
for the possibility that the country's largest Muslim insurgent
group will step up attacks during a fact-finding mission by the
Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) next week.

A team from the 56-member international Islamic body will
conduct a four-day probe from Oct. 16 into the implementation of
a 1996 peace pact signed between Manila and a former Muslim rebel
group, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).

The mission, to be headed by Indonesia, will also look into
the living conditions of the large Muslim minority in the main
southern island of Mindanao.