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Philippine military prepares to teargas tunnel where hostages believed held |
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May 1, 2000 ZAMBOANGA, Philippines, APR 30 (AP) - Philippine forces prepared Sunday to shoot tear gas into a tunnel in a sprawling rebel stronghold where Muslim extremists are believed to have hidden at least some of the 27 hostages held captive for six weeks, officials said.
Troops were guarding the entries to the tunnel, where some rebels fled after the military overran the densely forested Abu Sayyaf stronghold on southern Basilan island, Col. Ernesto de Guzman said.
Fierce fighting has continued in the area since about 1,500 troops began attacking the rebel camp on Mount Ponoh Mahajid eight days ago to rescue the hostages, mostly children seized from two schools on March 20.
Networks of tunnels, foxholes and bunkers crisscross the camp, and soldiers are unsure how many hostages and rebels may be inside the tunnel they plan to gas, de Guzman said.
Asked if children would be harmed by the tear gas, he replied: "They will just be stunned."
Military officials say they believe they can rescue the hostages and finish the operation within one more day.
"We're now at the stage of denouement ... of this particular crisis," Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado said Saturday.
The rebels, however, claim they escaped into the jungle with all their captives. "They are all here with us ... all 27 of them," rebel spokesman Abu Ahmad told local radio station DXRZ Saturday.
Mercado said four soldiers were killed and 27 wounded on Saturday, bringing the government's toll to 10 dead and 59 wounded in the rescue effort.
The losses "are small compared to what has been inflicted upon the Abu Sayyaf," he said. In the overrun camp, soldiers found shallow graves believed to contain the bodies of about 20 rebels, and suspected that other bodies ing Ramzi Yousef, mastermind of the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.
Meanwhile, a free-lance journalist who visited 21 other hostages abducted by Philippine Muslim extremists from a Malaysian resort last Sunday said they are weak, don't have enough food, and are crowded into a small bamboo hut with no toilet.
Several have diarrhea because of bad drinking water, Arlyn de la Cruz said. The hostages include 10 tourists from Germany, France, South Africa, Finland and Lebanon, and resort workers from the Philippines and Malaysia.
They were being held by Abu Sayyaf rebels in a mountainous area of Talipao in Sulu, a Philippine island about 80 kilometers (50 miles) southwest of Basilan, said de la Cruz, who has close tIËÉ#±n the rebels.
The rebels presented their first written demands Saturday for the release of the Sulu hostages, said Jamasali Abdurahman, a Muslim official serving as a go-between.
The demands included a return of traditional barter trading to the region, a ban on large fishing boats in the area to protect local fishermen, and full implementation of a 1976 agreement which provided for a 13-province Muslim autonomous region, he said.
President Joseph Estrada has ruled out any ransom payment for the hostages. The two kidnappings, the worst in the Philippines in years, were apparently not coordinated, officials say.
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