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Philippine troops move closer to rebel stronghold in hostage rescue |
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April 25, 2000 ZAMBOANGA, Philippines, APR 24 (AP) - Philippine troops battled up the sides of a thickly forested mountain Monday toward a Muslim rebel stronghold in an effort to rescue 27 hostages, including many school children, held for more than a month.
At least 10 Abu Sayyaf rebels and four soldiers have died in the fighting in the hinterlands of the southern province of Basilan, officials said.
The rebels have warned they will behead their five remaining male hostages, including a priest, if the military does not halt its assault.
The rebels, who announced last week that they had beheaded two male teachers, have demanded the freeing of Arab terrorists held in jails in the United States, including the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
Maj. Gen. Diomedio Villanueva, chief of the military's Southern Command, said government troops were shelling three outlying Abu Sayyaf camps and have advanced just 500 meters (1,600 feet) away from the camps.
Once soldiers seize the three camps located near the foot of the mountain, the troops will fight their way through the dense vegetation to the main rebel stronghold where the hostages are believed to be held, military officials said.
"We have rugged terrain and very thick forest cover. Our troops are operating under adverse conditions," Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado said.
The soldiers were also hampered by land mines and were using metal detectors, Villanueva said.
The Abu Sayyaf is the smaller but more radical of two Muslim groups fighting for an independent Islamic state in the southern Philippines. It has been blamed for numerous attacks on Christians.
Mercado said officials are worried about the safety of the hostages in the fighting, but that the military had no choice but to try to rescue them.
"We're holding our breath over what might happen to the hostages, that's our problem, that's our worry," Mercado told The Associated Press. "The rebels might attempt something if cornered."
Fighting on Saturday and Sunday left at least three government fighters, one militiaman and 10 rebels dead, officials said.
However, the rebels denied that any of their fighters were killed. A rebel spokesman said two hostages, including a child, were injured in the shelling of the rebel camp, but that claim could not be independently verified. Villanueva said military and police forces have been placed on alert in Basilan and nearby provinces in case of actions by the Abu Sayyaf to divert the military's attention from the Basilan offensive.
Suspected Abu Sayyaf rebels attacked an army outpost in Jolo in nearby Sulu province late Sunday, injuring seven soldiers and five civilians, Sulu police chief Candido Casimiro said.
Soldiers in the outpost returned fire, forcing the attackers to retreat, Casimiro said.
The rebels seized more than 50 hostages, including many children, from two schools in Basilan on March 20 for use as human shields after attacking an army outpost. Some of the hostages have since been freed.
The group has demanded freedom for Ramzi Yousef, mastermind of the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York, and Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, accused of conspiring to blow up New York City landmarks.
The demands were rejected by the Philippine government and by the U.S. Embassy. In retaliation for the abduction, a group of vigilantes seized 11 relatives of Abu Sayyaf leader Khadaffy Janjalani. They still held nine relatives after freeing Janjalani's pregnant wife and a daughter.
The U.S. State Department has included the Abu Sayyaf in a list of 28 foreign groups that threaten Americans at home or abroad.
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