US hostage treated 'worse than a dog':
Philippine negotiators
MANILA, Sept 24 (AFP) - Muslim
guerrillas are treating US captive Jeffrey Schilling "worse than a dog" as they
flee a military assault, press reports said Sunday, the ninth day of a hostage rescue bid.
The government temporarily
halted the attack on Friday as two local officials entered the Abu Sayyaf camp in the
remote southern island of Jolo for a parley. One of the negotiators briefly saw the
captive, the Philippine Inquirer quoted vice governor Munib Estino as saying.
Schilling's "hands were
tied and he was tied in a corner. He was being treated worse than a dog," Estino
said.
One of the officials, the vice
mayor of Panamao town Kudarat Abdulrajak, observed that the hostage's hands and feet were
covered with sores while residents saw a gunman kicking the hostage as they moved to
another camp, Estino added.
The official told the daily
that the Friday parley in the Jolo town of Luuk went nowhere, and that Marine units had
since resumed their advance.
President Joseph Estrada
ordered more than 4,000 soldiers and police into Jolo on September 16 to rescue 19
hostages including six foreigners following months of humiliating negotiations during
which the gunmen repeatedly took new captives after ransoming off earlier ones for
millions of dollars.
As the campaign entered its
ninth day the military had precious little to show except for two French journalists who
escaped their captors last Tuesday.
Aside from Schilling, a 24
year-old tourist from Oakland, California, three Malaysians and 13 Filipinos remain in the
gunmen's custody.
The official death toll from
the operation is 28 guerrillas and a soldier dead. The military says a total of 50-60 Abu
Sayyaf rebels may have been killed, according to intelligence reports.
Reports filtering out of the
island, which is under naval quarantine, suggests heavy civilian casualties with the
military's heavy dependence on artillery and bomber aircraft.
At least 15,000 people have
fled their homes, either to evacuation centers or by boat to the southern city of
Zamboanga.
A navy vessel was set to sail
from Zamboanga late Sunday to take about three dozen journalists on a one-day "guided
tour" of Jolo.
Estrada was earlier told the
risky assault would take three days to one week to achieve its objectives of rescuing the
hostages unharmed and crushing the Abu Sayyaf.
However, military experts
warned that the timetable was unrealistic and warned that the campaign could take at least
three months to complete.
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