Troops start rescue of Sayyaf hostages

The military assaulted yesterday a camp of the extremist Muslim group Abu Sayyaf, which claims to have beheaded two of its 29 hostages, in a bid to rescue the remaining captives.

"A rescue operation is going on," said Armed Forces chief Gen. Angelo Reyes.

The Abu Sayyaf rebels responded by saying they may start beheading five more male hostages today if the military operations are not halted.

Reyes said the decision to attack the Abu Sayyaf camp in the island province of Basilan was made by a provincial crisis management committee (CMC) that is handling the hostage negotiations.

CMC head Basilan Vice Gov. Bonnie Abdulaziz Balamo said the panel has approved the military attack after peaceful negotiations failed.

"I would like that the military do the offensive rather than stand by and place the hostages in danger in the hands of the Abu Sayyaf," said CMC vice chairman Basilan Bishop Romulo de la Cruz.

He said the rebels have threatened to decapitate Fr. Roel Gallardo if the military would not call off its assault.

De la Cruz said the possibility for the hostages getting caught in the crossfire was "a risk we have to take with the threats of the Abu Sayyaf."

Reyes said there were no reports of casualties on either side.

However, a spokesman for the rebel group, Abu Ahmad, claimed that one of the military helicopters being used in the attack crashed, killing nine soldiers.

A CMC spokesman said he could not comment on Ahmad's allegation.

Reyes refused to give details of the attack, saying it might jeopardize the operations.

Lt. Gen. Diomedio Villanueva, chief of the military's Southern Command, assured the people that the "paramount consideration in the operation is the safety of the hostages."

There was also no immediate report on the condition of the hostages, who were seized March 20 after a failed Abu Sayyaf attack on two Army posts in Sumisip town in Basilan.

Reyes flew to Basilan to personally assess the situation.

A local radio station reported that the Abu Sayyaf said the military began pounding their hideout with Howitzer cannons and mortars at 1 a.m.

Military officials who requested anonymity said the troops have penetrated the rebels' camp in the pre-dawn attack that involved MG-520 helicopter gunships and the elite Scout Rangers.

The Associated Press quoted dxRC reporter Jun Cayona as saying the rebel Abu Sayyaf guerrillas threatened to kill all their male captives if the military does not stop its attack.

The radio station, which went off the air because of the Lenten holidays, made a special two-and-a-half hour broadcast yesterday to report the military's Black Saturday assault.

The station said residents of Maluso town could hear the shelling from nearby Sumisip where the rebel camp is located.

Four helicopter gunships were reportedly seen over the area.

"Let them (military) continue the operations. We will just let them get the heads of the hostages, including the priest," Ahmad said in a radio interview, adding they can keep fighting for even three months.

Hader Glang, spokesman for Basilan Gov. Wahab Akbar, said authorities intercepted a rebel radio message saying that soldiers had repulsed a group of 39 Abu Sayyaf reinforcements coming from nearby Sulu province.

Akbar said his civilian volunteers, numbering about 500, helped the police and the soldiers cordon off the Abu Sayyaf's lair to prevent their escape.

"There was an attempt from the group (Abu Sayyaf) to escape, but they cannot do that (because) they were surrounded," Akbar said.

Glang also said the governor has ordered village militiamen not to seize but to shoot any Abu Sayyaf guerrillas seeking refuge in their community.

The Abu Sayyaf had said they beheaded two male teachers last Wednesday - President Estrada's 63rd birthday - because the government ignored the conditions they set for the release of the hostages.

Among the conditions were the release of Arab terrorists imprisoned in the United States.

The rebels also sought the release from jail of Ramzi Yousef, mastermind of the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York, and his conspirator, Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, as well as the freedom of two Abu Sayyaf members jailed in Basilan.

The demands were rejected by both the Philippine and the US governments.

Glang also said a group of vigilantes has begun preparations for an assault on the Abu Sayyaf.

Scores of vigilantes searched for the bodies of the two beheaded captives in the jungle near the Abu Sayyaf camp, while their comrades set up a nearby camp in preparation for the attack.

Akbar gave the rebels an ultimatum to set free the hostages by April 30.

The Abu Sayyaf guerrillas initially seized more than 50 pupils, teachers and a Catholic priest from two schools in Sumisip last March 20 to use as human shields after a failed attack on the Army outposts.

Some of the captives, mostly children, were freed in exchange for food and medicine.

In retaliation for the abduction, the vigilantes kidnapped 11 relatives of Abu Sayyaf leader Khadaffy Janjalani, but later freed his pregnant wife and a daughter.

Glang said the vigilantes will kill two of their remaining captives once the bodies of the beheaded victims are found.

Meanwhile, Sen. Gregorio Honasan appealed to the Abu Sayyaf to immediately set free the remaining 29 hostages to avert further bloodshed.

In a statement, Honasan's office quoted military spokesman Col. Rafael Romero as saying that with the beheading of the two male hostages, the rebels have "signed their own death warrant."

Romero added that some 1,000 soldiers were involved in the operation.

"Neither the Abu Sayyaf nor the government could guarantee that the lives of the innocent civilians will be spared in the event of a full-scale military offensive," Honasan noted.

Honasan, chairman of the Senate committee on peace and unification, said that the Abu Sayyaf may gain the media mileage but would never enjoy the support of even their own fellow Muslims.

"Are they ready to face the wrath of the public if and when they continue to allow their hostages to suffer from hunger, sickness and even death? Everything would be a futile exercise," Honasan said.

He added that even Ustadz Mohsin Julabbi, adviser of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front, described the recent executions as "cowardly, barbaric and un-Islamic."

Meanwhile, four Abu Sayyaf guerrillas were reported killed in last Thursday's gunbattle with government forces assaulting a rebel hideout in Talipao town in Sulu.

Sulu police provincial director Superintendent Candido Casimiro said two other civilians were wounded during the raid in Barangay Bandang, Talipao.

Casimiro said the attack was launched in a bid to rescue kidnap victims Patrick Viray and Andres Amante.

He admitted, however, that it has not been confirmed if the rebels were, indeed, holding Viray and Amante in the area.

Viray, a bank teller, was snatched last Feb. 15, while Amante was taken 10 days later.

Casimiro said the rebels were demanding P1.5 million for the release of Viray, as a former Sulu official was still negotiating for the freedom of Amante. --