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November 28, 2001
ZAMBOANGA, Philippines -- Under heavy aerial bombardment, armed Muslim rebels fled a key base in the southern Philippines on Tuesday, dragging along dozens of terrified men, women and children roped together as human shields.
After hours of intense fighting, the military said 25 guerrillas and one soldier were dead, and an unknown number of others, including civilians, were wounded. The rebels freed 21 hostages early today but held onto 60 others, negotiators said.
The rebels are part of a separatist Muslim militia that fought the government until a peace deal was struck five years ago. Fighting broke out again last week, with the government claiming the local governor -- a former rebel leader -- was upset over losing power.
The captives, snatched from their homes in the middle of the night, sobbed and shouted for troops not to shoot as they were herded out of the compound about noon Tuesday and made to walk slowly down the road. A guerrilla pointed a gun at the head of a young girl.
Soldiers slowly backed down the road, separated from the hostages and rebels by an armored personnel carrier with its guns trained on the group. The rebels then reached a hilly park, where they occupied a house.
Military spokesman Gen. Edilberto Adan said about 80 rebels were holding hostages there, while another group remained holed up at a rebel base, where attacks by bombers and helicopter gunships continued as dusk fell.
Negotiations to try to end the standoff dragged on past midnight in a house near the hilly park outside Zamboanga. At one point, two buses and an armored personnel carrier were brought in, and a group of 21 hostages, including women and children, quietly filed out to the flash of cameras.
"We are the first batch," said Jose Mari Bue, a local newspaper editor, who along with his wife and six children was among the hostages.
"This is the greatest feeling I've had," an ecstatic Adelaida Regino told the Associated Press by cellular telephone from the bus. "I thank all those who negotiated for our release."
Lt. Gen. Roy Cimatu, head of the military's Southern Command, said the freed captives would be given medical checkups and allowed to return home.
It was unclear what sort of deal had been worked out, but Cimatu said that after all the hostages were released, the rebels would be taken into custody.
The southern Philippines is home to the predominantly Roman Catholic country's 5-million-strong Muslim minority and has repeatedly been the site of bloody conflict for decades.
Tuesday's crisis came a day after elections for a successor to Gov. Nur Misuari.
The rebels, loyal to Misuari, belong to a faction of a separatist Muslim group, the Moro National Liberation Front, that fought the government until a 1996 peace deal.
Misuari -- who lost the MNLF leadership this year and was about to lose the governor's post -- has been charged with rebellion for allegedly fomenting an attack last week on an army base to disrupt elections for his successor. He was arrested Saturday in neighboring Malaysia as he fled the Philippines.