| THE GREAT
ESCAPE? REPORT:
TWO MEN GET AWAY FROM PHILIPPINE REBELS
J
O L O, Philippines, May 4 — Two white
men among 21 mostly foreign hostages held by Philippine Muslim rebels escaped from their
captors, local radio reported today.
Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado told Reuters he could not immediately confirm the report
on DZMM radio, which said the two hostages escaped yesterday before noon and guerrillas
searching for the pair clashed with troops.
DZMM said it received word of the escape from
“informants” but did not elaborate.
The identity of the hostages and their present whereabouts were
not known.
The 21 hostages, brought to Jolo island after they were kidnapped
on Easter Sunday from a Malaysian resort by Abu Sayyaf guerrillas, were 10 Malaysians,
three Germans, two French nationals, two South Africans, two Finns, one Lebanese and a
Filipina.
Military officers near the hostage site on Jolo island in the
southern Philippines said troops returned guerrilla fire during the night, and one officer
said the rebels moved their captives to another hideout to escape the shooting. They had
no information on any escape.
Mortar Fire
A Reuters photographer in the area said troops fired mortars every 30 minutes throughout
the night but a senior military officer said there was no danger to the hostages.
“We controlled our firing so that we won’t hit the
house where the hostages are,” said a frontline colonel.
DZMM station is run by ABS-CBN TV network, which reported
yesterday that two foreign hostages were dead. The government said however all 21 hostages
were alive and its chief negotiator later said at least two hostages were wounded in
clashes.
Jolo, 600 miles south of Manila, is a stronghold of the Abu
Sayyaf, one of two groups fighting for an Islamic state in the mostly Catholic country.
In a separate hostage drama on nearby Basilan, Philippine troops
stepped up their search for about 10 Filipino hostages, including children, after Abu
Sayyaf rebels holding a group of 27 for the past 45 days killed four of their captives a
day earlier.
“About 10 are still unaccounted for... they were split into
two groups,” General Diomedio Villanueva, commanding officer for the southern
military command, said on local radio.
“As of now there is no fighting, they’re (troops) just
searching the environment,” Villanueva said.
Villanueva said a priest and three other Filipino hostages were
killed and five, including children, were wounded on yesterday when Philippine troops
surprised the rebels.
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