Two soldiers lay wounded
after a mortar landed near them as the government troopers continue their
assault at Muslim rebels despite an uneasy truce.
By Admin
ZAMBOANGA, Philippines:
Nearly 100 Muslim guerrillas who have held scores of people hostage for a week
in Zamboanga City have been killed or captured in an offensive to retake
rebel-held coastal communities, officials said Sunday.
Army troops and police
special forces have regained rebel-held grounds and are pressing an assault
deeper into communities in the coastal outskirts of Zamboanga city, where more
than 100 Moro National Liberation Front guerrillas are holding an unspecified
number of hostages, military spokesman Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala said.
“We’re gaining ground,
we’re pushing forward,” the Philippine Inquirer quoted him as saying.
Troops are calibrating
their firepower to avoid harming civilians, Zagala said.
At least 51 rebels have
been killed and 42 others captured, most while trying to escape along the coast
after discarding their camouflage uniforms for ordinary clothes, Interior
Secretary Manuel Roxas IIsaid, adding that the gunmen would face criminal
charges.
Six policemen and soldiers,
along with four villagers, have been killed in the standoff, which
began Monday when troops foiled an attempt by the rebels, who arrived
by boat from outlying islands, to march and hoist their flag at Zamboanga’s
city hall. They barged into five coastal villages and took more than 100
hostages as human shields.
Army troops and police,
backed by helicopters and navy gunboats, initially surrounded the rebels with
their hostages while government officials tried to convince the insurgents to
free their captives and surrender. But government forces decided to
attack Friday after the guerrillas started setting on fire clusters
of houses and fired mortar rounds that wounded several Red Cross aid workers,
Zagala said.
While the government’s
offensive is gaining momentum, Roxas said it’s difficult to tell when troops
will be able to end the standoff, which has displaced more than 67,000
residents.
The crisis has virtually
paralyzed the port city of nearly a million people, after authorities closed
its international airport and suspended sea ferry services.
The Moro insurgents, led by
rebel leader Nur Misuari, signed a peace deal in 1996, but the guerrillas did
not lay down their arms and later accused the government of reneging on a
promise to develop long-neglected Muslim regions in the south of the
predominantly Roman Catholic nation.
The rebels have become
increasingly restive in recent months as they were overshadowed by a rival
rebel group, which engaged President Benigno Aquino III’s government in peace
talks brokered by Malaysia. The talks have steadily progressed toward a new and
potentially larger autonomy deal for minority Muslims in the south.
Misuari, whose group
launched a similar attack in Zamboanga city in 2001, has not been seen in
public since the standoff began.
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