Philippine Hostage Sighting Reported
By JIM GOMEZ, Associated Press Writer
ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (AP) -
Muslim guerrillas continued to elude thousands of military troops seeking to rescue 19
hostages from a southern Philippine jungle Tuesday, despite reports that some of the
captives had been seen alive.
Thousands of civilians fled
from the sporadic clashes on remote Jolo island, and thousands of others were trapped
inside a tight military blockade of rebel areas, refugees said.
President Joseph Estrada said
he would only halt the four-day assault if the Abu Sayyaf rebels free all their captives,
including six foreigners.
``Let them release the hostages
and that's the time we can talk,'' he said.
Officials said some of the
fleeing rebels were attempting to escape to nearby islands, but Estrada said there was no
information any had been able to break through naval ship patrols.
The rebels are believed to have
speedboats bought with some of the more than $15 million ransom they reportedly received
from Libya and Malaysia for freeing other hostages.
The three separate Abu Sayyaf
factions that were holding the hostages merged into two as they fled the assault,
presidential Press Secretary Ricardo Puno said.
One group is holding American
Jeffrey Schilling and Filipino Roland Ulla, who was kidnapped from a Malaysian diving
resort in April. The other is holding two French journalists, three Malaysians and 12
Filipino Christian evangelists, he said.
The rebels are believed to be
planning to use the hostages as human shields and bargaining chips, Puno said.
Since the assault began
Saturday, the military has overrun three major Abu Sayyaf camps and smaller hide-outs, but
found no sign of the hostages there.
``Yesterday the reports from
the field said some of the hostages were sighted,'' Puno said Tuesday. ``We're very
hopeful that this will pan out.'' He declined to provide details, and a military spokesman
indicated the sighting may have been as long as two days earlier.
The spokesman, Gen. Generoso
Senga, also indicating the military still had no clear idea of where the rebels were,
suggesting the assault could take longer than the one week the military has estimated.
Officials continued a news
blackout on most details of the assault.
Estrada said he believed all
the hostages were safe, but offered little proof.
``In the history of kidnappers,
when they kill their victims, they leave their bodies to show what they have done,'' he
said. ``In as much as we haven't seen any bodies of the hostages, we believe that they are
all still alive.''
The rebels had threatened to
attack southern cities and behead Schilling, of Oakland, Calif., if they were attacked by
the military.
Police arrested two suspected
Abu Sayyaf members Tuesday in Zamboanga city, about 85 miles from Jolo, they believe are
members of an explosives team.
One, Fauzi Dansalan, said he
was arrested in Manila in connection with a bombing several months ago at a shopping mall
but was cleared and released. The other, Ahmad Hanapi, is a servant for the mother of
Schilling's wife, Ivi Osani, police said.
Osani is the second cousin of
rebel spokesman Abu Sabaya and the widow of a rebel killed by government troops several
years ago.
Schilling, who converted to
Islam in 1994, visited an Abu Sayyaf camp with Osani on Aug. 28 and reportedly was
abducted because of an argument over religion with the rebels. Osani was not seized.
Seven rebels have been killed
and 20 captured in the four days of fighting, while six government troops were wounded,
military officials said.
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