NEWSFLASH
3 SOLDIERS, 25 REBELS KILLED IN BASILAN ASSAULT
Zamboanga City, April 25, 2000 The Armed Forces of the Philippine will continue its ground, air and sea assault on the mountain lair of the extremist Muslim rebel group Abu Sayyaf on Basilan Island until all the hostages are freed, AFP chief of Staff Gen. Angelo Reyes vowed today.
Southern military chief General Diomedio Villanueva likewise said he would call off the attack only if the rebels surrendered and released all their captives, mostly school children and a priest, who have been held for more than one month.
Basilan crisis committee spokesman Chris Puno told newsmen the assault on the rebels was the best possible move, perhaps the only option left for the government.
"We felt the Abu Sayyaf would kill the hostages one-by-one, anyway. The decision to attack was made after consulting the families of the hostages," he said.
Meanwhile, government troopers arrested 39 suspected members of the Abu Sayyaf group while on their way to Basilan Island in an effort to reinforce their beleaguered comrades now being subjected to large-scale military offensive operations in the remote Sumisip town.
A report said at least three soldiers and 25 Muslim terrorists were killed as the military pressed on yesterday with a massive assault on the guerrillas' jungle hideout to try to free 27 hostages in Mindanao.
The Abu Sayyaf group claims two male hostages were slightly wounded in the fighting as ground troops pounded its main camp in Mount Punoh Mahajid in the hinterlands of Sumisip town, Basilan province.
Reports reaching Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City also said that at least three soldiers were confirmed killed while four others were seriously wounded as heavy fighting continued between Philippine Army troopers and Abu Sayyaf members.
Other developments:
1. Members of the Christian cult Sagrado Corazon de Jesus beheaded a Muslim rebel in Basilan while government militias killed 20 other suspected symphatizers, AFP reported quoting officials.
Provincial spokesman Hader Glang said his office also received the information that pro-government militias snatched and shot dead 20 suspected Abu Sayyaf rebels in three Basilan towns.
2. A large-scale military assault against Muslim terrorists in Mindanao was the government's last option to rescue 27 hostages being held since last month, top security officials said.
Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado said the assault, which began last Saturday against the Abu Sayyaf, was ordered by a crisis management committee after peaceful negotiations broke down.
3. The Philippine Army yesterday vowed to crush Muslim terrorists holding some 27 hostages after a massive attack earlier failed to dislodge them from their jungle hideout.
At least three MG-520 helicopter gunships also shelled satellite camps of the Abu Sayyaf, some two
kilometers away from the main hideout where the hostages are being held, said Major General Diomedio Villanueva, chief of the Armed Forces' Southern Command.
Villanueva said there would be no let-up in the assault which started last Saturday, three days after the Abu Sayyaf beheaded two male captives in an act they described as a birthday gift to President Joseph Estrada, who turned 63 last Wednesday.
"We will pursue this operation to the end," he said. "But the primordial concern is not to capture the Abu Sayyaf camp, but to give the hostages the maximum chance of survival."
Abu Ahmad Salayuddin, a spokesman for the Abu Sayyaf, said female and child captives were safe and hiding in shallow trenches or foxholes. But five male hostages have been confined in cages that are vulnerable to the crossfire.
"We will not surrender," Salayuddin told a local radio station.
"We will fight to the last drop of our blood. If something happens to the hostages, it is not our fault anymore."
The Abu Sayyaf earlier threatened to behead the five other male hostages, including a Roman Catholic priest, at 3 p.m. (0700 GMT) if the military assault is not halted. But there were no immediate reports of any executions.
More than 1,500 Army Scout Rangers were dispatched to the mountain early last Saturday to end the month-long hostage crisis while another 500 pro-government militiamen have been deployed to block possible escape routes.
"We have sealed off all possible exit points to prevent the rebels from fleeing," said Colonel Ernesto de Guzman, the Southern Command's chief of staff. "We intend to give a final solution to the Abu Sayyaf problem in Basilan."
Three soldiers, including a junior officer, were killed while six others were wounded in the first wave of the attack when the troops captured three Abu Sayyaf advance posts in the mountain. At least four extremists died in the clashes.
Basilan provincial spokesman Hader Glang said at least 20 Abu Sayyaf rebels were seized and executed by pro-government militiamen in separate incidents in the towns of Sumisip, Lantawan, Maluso and Isabela.
"Those who were identified as Abu Sayyaf rebels were seized from their houses and shot dead in front of their terrified families," Glang said. "We are happy about this. People are fed up and they are angry at the Abu Sayyaf."
A Christian vigilante group also executed one Abu Sayyaf guerrilla in the nearby village of Kumalarang and threatened to kill all members and sympathizers of the extremist group in the province, police said.
Earlier, the military said the Abu Sayyaf executed at least 10 of their comrades on Saturday amid the fighting. "Those killed were beheaded because they wanted to back out of the fighting," De Guzman said.
The military launched the rescue operation after a local crisis management committee created to resolve the hostage situation gave the go-ahead.
Cris Puno, a spokesman for the committee, said the body decided to "take the military option" because of the Abu Sayyaf's impossible demands in exchange for the release of the hostages.
Amid concerns that the military offensive has placed the hostages' lives in jeopardy, Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado justified the rescue operations, saying, "The committee has exhausted all peaceful means."
The Abu Sayyaf has demanded the freedom of three jailed terrorists in the United States, including Ramzi Yousef, the convicted mastermind of the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York.
Estrada has refused to talk with U.S. President Bill Clinton about the demands.
The U.S. Embassy in Manila has already rejected the demands despite a threat by the Abu Sayyaf to kill or abduct all Americans in the Philippines. Americans have been cautioned against traveling to Basilan and were urged to take extra precautions.
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