Posted on 05/05/2003 1:11:17 PM PDT by knighthawk
MANILA: The Philippine president on Monday condemned as terrorism an attack by Muslim separatists that killed 27 people, and officials issued a bounty on heads of the rebel leaders, days before scheduled government-rebel talks.
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front took 57 hostages in an attack Sunday on Siocon town, seized the town hall and a hospital, and torched a market. The government regained control of the town later that day and all but three hostages have been released, said Philippine military spokesman Lt. Col. Daniel Lucero.
The hostages were ``evidently to be used as human shields,'' said Lt. Gen. Rodolfo Garcia, the military's vice chief of staff.
Siocon is a predominantly Christian town on Mindanao island in the southern Philippines where the MILF has waged a three-decade insurrection.
Lucero said 11 soldiers and police, 10 civilians and six rebels were killed. Several soldiers, police and civilians were injured, he said.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo warned the MILF leadership it ``has to account for this act, both on the ground and on the level of peace negotiations.''
``The attack on a civilian community is an act of terrorism and cannot be construed in the furtherance of rebellion,'' she said in a speech.
Arroyo called on the MILF to turn over the perpetrators. Her government approved rewards of 5 million pesos (US$96,000) each for the capture of several known MILF leaders _ including its chairman, Hashim Salamat.
She said she'd instructed government negotiators to demand the MILF renounce terrorism when the two sides meet Wednesday in Malaysia for preliminary talks aimed at restarting formal peace negotiations, stalled since last year.
Chief government negotiator Jesus Dureza said formal peace talks would remain suspended because of the fighting.
Rebel spokesman Eid Kabalu said the attack was directed at an army battalion headquarters in the town and was in response to a continuing government military offensive.
``We are trying to avoid these collateral damages, but it's difficult to avoid because the civilians are mixed with the military in the same area,'' Kabalu said.
Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes said the rebels attacked after failing to extort money from residents. He said the attack was also meant to divert the military's attention from continuing battles with the Muslim extremist Abu Sayyaf group on a nearby island. Siocon Mayor Cesar Soriano said his town of 50,000 people was struggling to recover from the attack.
``If you can see the faces of our people here, even in the streets they are crying,'' he said in a radio interview. ``I don't know how we can start again in the face of all these problems and tensions and the continuing threats.''
Kabalu and other rebel leaders have been charged over bombings earlier this year that killed 38 people in the southern Philippines.
Also Sunday, the MILF ambushed military trucks carrying soldiers' wives and children in Matanog town, 850 kilometers (530 miles) southeast of Manila, wounding two soldiers and a soldier's wife.
Three guerrillas were killed, said the army's 6th Infantry Division chief, Maj. Gen. Generoso Senga.
Well, give credit where credit is due, she had the guts to send the army in and take them out one base at a time. Now its time to finish the job.
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